


Enter the Dragon

by Aria6



Category: Bleach
Genre: AU - Alternate Origin Story, Adjuchas Sex, Babies, Hollow Mating, Multi, Raised by Hollows, Royalty
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-07
Updated: 2013-11-07
Packaged: 2018-04-07 12:09:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 46,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4262781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aria6/pseuds/Aria6
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A different take on the Bleach storyline! Ichigo was born in Soul Society and due to the politics at the time, his father had to flee with him to keep him alive. He escaped to Hueco Mundo but could not survive there and little Ichigo is adopted by a vasto lorde... but what will happen when Aizen arrives? And who is Ichigo really? Shiro/Ichi, Shiro/Grimm, Ichi/Grimm. Threesomes!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The Vasto Lorde was flying over the far end of his territory when he felt the disturbance.

He lifted his head, scenting the breeze. Something was… off. The scent of the reiatsu was polluted, altered from its natural state, and the result was… what? It was nothing he'd ever felt before and he was old. Not as old as the hollow who ruled Los Noches, but very old. This was something new.

It was shockingly pure but that didn't bother him. He was a corrupted soul, not an evil one and he spread his wings, following the disturbance to the source. But before he could find the originating point, he stumbled over something far more interesting.

"Shinigami?" He whispered to himself as he saw the man running over the dunes. He was carrying something, a cloth wrapped bundle in his arms. He was also leaving a blood trail a half-blind adjuchas could follow and the Vasto Lorde wondered if the fool had been sent here on a mission. If so, it was over. Something was clearly pursuing him and he had no hope for survival in his condition.

The old hollow saw no reason to let someone else have the meal. A shinigami was good food, and this one felt strong. He would absorb the man and take his essence to his den, to feed to his mate. Then she would feed the cub on her milk, raising him to be good and strong. He landed in front of the man, and the shinigami pulled himself to a stop before backing away, holding the bundle protectively.

"Please… not my Ichigo…" His voice was rasping and desperate. The Vasto Lorde flicked his long, lizard like tail, rather confused. Ichigo? Strawberry? Then he caught a familiar scent and stiffened.

"What do you have there, shinigami?" He rumbled before reaching out. The man tried to jerk away but he wasn't fast enough and the Vasto Lorde gazed down at a very small, cream colored little face. The little one was sleeping, completely unaware of the deadly, clawed hands now holding him. "…" It was another first. For all his very long life, the Vasto Lorde had never seen the offspring of a shinigami, let alone one so small. "This little one is not yet weaned. Where is the dam? Why do you bring him here?" He knew he sounded disapproving and didn't care. What in the nine hells did the shinigami think he was doing, bringing a pup to Hueco Mundo? The man just looked exhausted.

"His mother is dead. They are trying to kill us both." He said and the Vasto Lorde lifted his head, his senses ranging back. Yes, there were more shinigami behind this one, coming from that strangely pure place. "This was the only place…" The hollow nodded, understanding. Desperation had brought this man here. He scented the air for a moment, thinking.

"You are nearing the end of your life." He stated as he gazed at the blood in the sand. It was merely a statement of fact, unclouded by pity or sadness. "Give me the pup. I will take it to my mate and we will raise it with our pup." That was, perhaps, a foolish decision. But his mate had given birth only to a singleton and had plenty of milk. It would be good for their pup to have a playmate and if the shinigami cub proved weak, their pup could eat it. The shinigami looked at him in disbelief.

"You… will take care of him…?" He clearly didn't know whether to believe the hollow or not. But desperation decided him. The shinigami were coming up behind him. "Please! Don't let them know he's alive." He said desperately, gaining a bit of a second wind. "They'll come after you… no matter the cost…" The Vasto Lorde shrugged, not particularly worried. If necessary he would simply move his den. But for the sake of his own cub and this new one, it was better to avoid the danger in the first place.

"They will think I have eaten you both." He said and fear flashed over the man's face as he realized the hollow's intention. "Do not be distressed. Your soul will live on in me and, in some small way, you will witness the growth of your pup." It wasn't much. He was a Vasto Lorde so the shinigami's soul would likely sleep, bound with the rest of his soul collection. But it was something. The man steadied himself, clearly thinking things through. He was dying and if they found his body, uneaten, and the child missing, the pursuers would know something unusual had happened. This way… he nodded.

"I am Shiba Isshin." He said and the Vasto Lorde flicked his ears. It was the first time prey had introduced itself. It seemed this was a day for firsts.

"I am Vandular Sturmdraggan." He returned the courtesy before ending the man's life with a single swipe of his claws. He set the babe down and ate quickly, as fast as he could. The shinigami were still almost there when he took to the wing, the pup held possessively in his hands. The shinigami had been even stronger than he'd thought, a very pure soul. He would do his best to see that this pup reached adulthood.

Of course, for that to happen he would have to convince his mate to nurse him. That proved slightly difficult.

"What is that?" His mate peered at the bundle and was appalled as he revealed the contents. "Van! Have you lost your mind? Where in the nine hells did you get that?" She laid her ears back. Her bone mask did not permit many facial expressions, but body language clearly indicated irritation.

"In my hunting, I came across a shinigami…" He gave her a quick rendition of events, including his promise to the man. He really didn't want to break it. The pup woke up and started to cry as they talked. The sound set off their own cub and soon they were treated to piteous wails. His mate lay on her side and nudged her own pup into position before giving the strange cub a long, assessing look.

"Oh, very well. Give him here." She finally said and Vandular helped position the cub. His mate had six teats, a gift of her base form of fox. The shinigami pup took readily to her teats and they both watched as he fed. It soon became clear that he liked the hollow milk. "Hopefully that will nourish him." She said and Vandular shrugged.

"If it does not, we will kill him." It would be kinder than letting him starve to death. But the ancient vasto lorde wasn't particularly worried. If they'd both been adjuchas perhaps it would have been different, but they were the most evolved of all hollows. The vasto lorde had pups very rarely, usually singletons and twins, and they grew slowly. Vandular knew only a bit about shinigami but he thought they were the same as humans, and he recalled his life as a living man. Vasto lorde were much like humans, and hence, much like shinigami. He thought his mate would be able to feed the cub.

His own cub got the food he needed before separating from his dam with a cheeping sound. Rumbling a laugh, Vandular reached down and rolled the little one on his back, enjoying it as tiny clawed hands grasped his larger paws.

His own offspring was covered in pure white bone and resembled him greatly. He possessed stubby little horns that would someday be forward facing, dangerous weapons. His tail was equally stubby, far from the majestic thing it would someday be. There were a few tufts of red fur, legacies of his mother. There were no wings, which saddened him just a bit. Vandular would have liked it if his son had followed him in being a creature of the sky. But even without them, he would fly someday. All vasto lorde could fly.

Glancing between the two pups, he decided they were roughly the same age. The shinigami child seemed calmer and less active, though. Perhaps that was a shinigami thing or perhaps his sire had used something to quiet him. Whatever the case might be, Vandular was interested in seeing how the cubs would get along.

"What is his name?" His mate interrupted his line of thought and he gently touched that bright orange hair, carefully keeping his claws curved away from the pup. His own child had bone armor that would defeat casual scratches, but the shinigami child was soft in comparison.

"He is Ichigo." He answered. The last name didn't even occur to him. Hollows gave themselves last names when they learned their powers and nature. Born hollows sometimes kept the first name their parents gave them, but sometimes not. There was nothing important in a last name. "It means strawberry." That was what some of his souls told him. His mate looked confused, then shrugged.

"It is as good a name as Shiro. He can always change it later." She said dismissively and he chuckled. She was right, naming their child after the color white had not been a creative moment. But it was still good.

Shiro was only a baby name. If he wanted, their son could change it later.

* * *

"Owwww! Papi, Shiro bit me!"

"Then teach him not to do that." Vandular called back from where he lay in the sand. He was having a lazy day, watching the pups as his mate hunted. There was a squall as Ichigo pulled on Shiro's tail.

"Papi! Ichi pulled my tail!" Shiro protested and Vandular chuckled, amused.

"Teach him not to do that." With parental permission, Shiro sprang at his brother. It quickly turned into a wrestling match, the two little boys tumbling across the sands as their parent watched. It was very amusing and he laughed. That laugh, though, seemed to remind the pups he was there. Suddenly putting aside their conflict, they rushed him. Vandular made a small oomph sound as Shiro landed on his chest, going for his neck. Ichigo landed on his stomach, play biting at his belly. He growled and mock fought the children, pushing them down and watching them climb back up. When they had exerted themselves well, he allowed them to 'kill' him and flopped over dramatically. There were cheers of victory from his offspring and Vandular grinned behind his mask.

"FOOD!" Shiro bolted off him, though, at the scent of a fresh kill. Ichigo looked surprised – the little one was always surprised when his brother scented something he couldn't – then squealed as he saw their dam, dragging an adjuchas behind her. Vandular just watched as the two boys mobbed their mother, politely begging for a chance at the kill.

The old hollow had been certain that Ichigo would survive on hollow milk, but he'd been less sure about hollow kills. Fortunately, there seemed to be no difficulty. It did seem to be giving his shinigami reiatsu a hollow perfume, but that would only help the boy in the twilight world of Hueco Mundo. Ichigo had developed a baby hierro early. Not enough to defeat strikes meant to wound, it did keep him from being accidentally scratched by his brother and his parents. He also seemed to be developing something like sonido. Vandular was teaching both the boys, although teaching Ichigo could sometimes be more of a challenge. But in the end, it was all focusing your internal power. Did it matter if his ceros were not entirely the same as the ones a hollow would use?

Tossing aside those rather disconnected thoughts, Vandular pulled himself to his feet and brushed off the sand. He wasn't particularly hungry. As old as he was, he was completely stable and rarely needed to feed unless he was exerting himself. The cubs were in the middle of their growth, so they ate far more than their sire. His mate was younger and still growing into her full power, so she ate more as well. He would take whatever was left of the kill and if it wasn't enough, he would find another. With his wings and sonido, that was never a problem.

Vandular smiled to himself as he watched Shiro thoughtfully crack the outer armor of the dead hollow, revealing the meat beneath for his brother. Ichigo could do that, but it took him much longer. The old hollow wondered if the little boy would ever find a sword spirit. He knew, vaguely, that shinigami swords were spiritual in nature. But how did they find their shinigami? Could one even reach the boy in Hueco Mundo?

"You're thinking again. You think too much." His mate observed and Vandular chuckled, a low, rumbling sound.

"And you don't think enough. We make a good pair." He teased her gently and she huffed, flirting her tail at him. It was the truth though. He'd met her when she'd been nothing more than an adjuchas, carelessly intruding into his den. The dark scent should have warned her away but she'd found it alluring. Fortunately, he'd been amused by her temerity and had sensed the latent power inside her, the potential for vasto lorde. He'd made it his goal to bring it out, then mate her. Vandular had succeeded on both counts.

"When will we send them off the den?" She asked and there was a wistful note in her voice. He understood that perfectly. These were her first cubs as a vasto lorde, but she'd raised two litters as an adjuchas. From the perspective of the lower rank, the cubs were ready to depart.

"Not until they wish to leave, or a new litter comes." Vandular said easily. He had raised several vasto lorde cubs, with various mates, and he knew how they differed from an adjuchas cub. She gave him a questioning look and he chuckled softly. "There is no need to drive them away. We have plenty of food and no natural enemies. All my vasto lorde children stayed with me until near adulthood." That got them past the very dangerous time all natural born adjuchas experienced. The period where they lived on the small creatures and weakest adjuchas, hiding desperately from anything too strong. It was a treacherous way to live and if they forced Ichigo and Shiro away now, things would be very hard for them. Van thought that Shiro might have some chance, but Ichigo would never make it. The little shinigami cub needed his sword spirit.

"If that is the way vasto lorde do things." His mate said, but sounded relieved, not irritated. Van tilted his head at her questioningly. "It was always so hard, making the little ones leave." She confessed and he nodded sympathetically. It had been a long, long time since he was adjuchas but he could still remember those days. "I'm just worrying we might cripple them later in life." She said and he shook his head.

"No, staying with us will not cripple them. Two of my offspring survived the battles for dominance and hold territory now." He assured her and she looked relieved. "I'm very glad there are two of them, though. The singletons always have a harder time than the twins." Those two survivors were twins, in fact. Having someone else you could trust completely was a survival advantage.

"Papi!" "Mami!" The boys ran up, coated in dark hollow blood and grinning. They each grabbed a child and began bathing them. The boys both squirmed and giggled as rough tongues removed the residue. Then his mate went to feed from the kill as Vandular entertained the children with a story, although not the one he intended. Ichigo demanded his favorite story instead.

"Tell me how you got me!" He said and Shiro poked him. "Ow!" He scowled and rubbed his arm. "That hurt." He pouted as Shiro stuck out his tongue.

"We've heard that lots before! Tell us somethin' else!" Shiro said but Vandular shook his head.

"Ichigo's story is not long. I will tell you two, one for him and one for you." That caught both the cubs' attention and they looked very happy indeed. Stories were like treats to them and the promise of two, well, that was a great thing. "When I was flying over the sands I caught the scent of a strange place…" The story was well worn and smooth from many retellings, but Vandular didn't mind. Of all the things that had occurred to him in Hueco Mundo, his gaining a shinigami cub was one of the most memorable.

He didn't mind repeating the story.

* * *

Vandular caught the shinigami's blade with his arm, noting ever flaw in the technique. There were many, but that was only to be expected with one so young. He took advantage of one of those flaws, planting a fist in the young man's belly and sending him back a few steps with a woof of outflowing air.

"You attack too recklessly. Control yourself, Ichigo." He admonished the young boy who nodded with a determined look. Then they clashed again, Vandular pressing his young son to the limits of his ability. He called a stop to it when he sensed Ichigo's endurance wavering. "Enough. Shiro, come, it is your turn."

"Yah!" Shiro cheered before he bounded up. Vandular smiled to himself at the energy. The two children did not have the endurance of an adult, but they recovered their energy far more quickly.

Years were meaningless in the endless twilight of Hueco Mundo, but time was certainly passing. The children were nowhere near adulthood yet, but they were growing into themselves well and it was time to give them the lessons they would need to survive. An adjuchas cub learned such things the hard way, fighting for survival, but his cubs would not learn in that hard school. If he wanted them to be ready he needed to teach them, and he would. Vandular wanted them to be successful in life.

Ichigo took a seat on the sand, his hand resting on his sword as his father and brother sparred. The sword had simply appeared one day, while they were sleeping. Shiro had almost stepped on it, to Vandular's amusement. Without the strength of a shinigami there had been no chance his boy could be hurt, but the yelp of surprise had been quite amusing.

Vandular put Shiro in the dirt, swiping his feet out from under him before pouncing. He deliberately slowed his speed, giving the cub a chance to escape if he could only react quickly enough. Shiro took advantage of that, planting a foot in his sire's chest and tossing him away as far as he could. Then the white pup rolled to his feet and roared. It was still high and squeaky, but a hint of the basso notes of a vasto lorde was there. Someday, Shiro would grow into that sound.

Vandular worked Shiro to exhaustion before letting him rest as well. Although resting didn't last long and he flicked his ears in amusement as the two cubs rolled over the sand, play wrestling with each other. Ichigo was better rested and had the edge in that little contest but Shiro was treacherous and Vandular laughed as his son used his tail to distract his brother. Ichigo's scream and swat were hilarious.

"Shiro, that is really not appropriate." He said with a chuckle. "Funny, but not appropriate." Shiro attempted to look innocent, which was really quite difficult with no facial expressions. But he carried it off fairly well with body language.

"Didn't you say anythin's fair in love and war, papi?" He said as Ichigo growled and pulled at the fabric of his outfit. It wasn't much, what his mother and father had managed to piece together for him, but it kept him warm.

"Yes, but you're not supposed to mix the two. Particularly with your sibling." Vandular said serenely and Shiro cackled before Ichigo kicked him, scowling.

"In other words, stop trying to molest me with your tail!" He said before picking up his sword. "Come on, spar with me the right way!" Shiro bounced to his feet and Vandular settled in to give them a critique as they fought. Blade clashed against bone claws again and again and Vandular smiled to himself as he watched.

His boys would be strong.

* * *

"It's almost time, isn't it?" His mate asked, snuggling up against his side. Vandular sighed and put an arm around her.

"Yes Rin. It's almost time for them to go." He said comfortingly and she nodded with a sigh. Ichigo and Shiro were sparring in front of them, firing ceros and raw shinigami power back and forth as they gave each other a hard time. It was a beautiful display of skill but still untested by the real world. That would have to change, and soon.

The impetus for the change was Shiro. Vandular could feel his power coming in, hear the bass of a vasto lorde in his roar. That meant that his sexual side would be awakening shortly, and when it did he needed to be gone from the nest. Animals had no compunctions about such things and the boy's instincts would be in direct conflict with his intellect when that happened. Vandular knew from experience that his son would find himself attracted to his mother and even his father, if they kept him too long. If he surrendered to his instincts he would attempt to kill Van in order to mate with Rin, or subdue Van and mate them both. They would have to violently expel him from their territory and that was not the parting Vandular wanted with his young son. "It might as well be today." If they put it off it would be tempting to keep putting it off and they simply couldn't do that. His mate nodded.

"You are right. Let's talk to them." She said, standing with an air of resolution. Vandular nodded, standing as well. It was best to get this over with.

The two boys were panting when they walked up and Vandular decided they would have the talk today but send them off early the next day. There was no reason to send them out exhausted from an energetic spar. The two boys looked at them with smiles and Vandular paused to admire them.

Shiro had grown fully into his promise. His body was lean and toned, covered in white bone. His mane of white hair was well-groomed, silky and flowing in the wind. Wickedly sharp, forward facing horns made an impressive threat to any challenger. They also made kissing impossible and Van snickered a bit to himself at the thought. Kissing wasn't much good with bone armor in the way, in any case. Love bites would also be a bit tricky but he was sure his offspring would find a way around that.

Ichigo had also grown into himself well. His body was equally toned, toughened from his life in the endless desert of Hueco Mundo. His reiatsu was still shinigami but with that edge of hollow perfume that signified he was something different. His hair was cropped short in direct contrast to Shiro's, and the spiky arrangement suited him well. They had managed to get him slightly better clothing and he wore a black robe that slightly resembled that of a shinigami, but cruder and obviously handmade.

"My sons. I'm proud of you both." Vandular said and he was. They were both his sons and he hoped the shinigami's soul inside him could see the beautiful man his pup had grown into. He would be proud too, the hollow was sure. "But it is time for you to go." He said gently and saw his sons exchange a glance that contained many emotions. Excitement, anticipation, apprehension and a trace of fear.

"Knew that was coming papi, I could feel it. I told Ichigo." Shiro said and Vandular felt another swell of pride. Many of his other children had been taken completely by surprise by this. It was a sign of self-awareness, that Shiro had known it was coming. "Can we go tomorrow though? I'm pretty tired." Vandular laughed at that. His own thoughts echoed back at him!

"Of course." Rin said, relief in her voice. She was pleased that her child was taking it so well, no doubt. "We'll get you a good meal to say goodbye with." She said and Van nodded. That would be an excellent way to say goodbye to their pups, with a full belly of meat.

"We'll make you proud papi." Ichigo pledged and Vandular smiled before hugging the young shinigami. Warm arms went around him for a moment, then he let go and gave a hug to his son, feeling colder bone armor against him.

"You'll both make me proud." He was sure of it. He'd given them every advantage he could in life.

His boys were both strong. They would not disappoint him.


	2. Chapter 2

"He's perfect." Shiro murmured as he peered out at the adjuchas from his hiding place.

"He suspects we're here." Ichigo muttered almost inaudibly and Shiro nodded his head. The panther shaped adjuchas was moving warily, his head swinging from side to side as he scented the wind and searched for reiatsu. He and Ichigo were both very good at hiding themselves – they'd learned on their father's knee – but this adjuchas was damned good. He'd caught some hint of them and it was worrying him. Bony fangs bared in a permanent snarl, he stepped lightly through the sands, wariness in every line of his body.

"That's why he's perfect." Shiro breathed. A normal adjuchas would not have sensed them. This stranger was at the very top of his class, verging on vasto lorde. A perfect choice as a mate for a young vasto lorde like himself.

After they'd left the nest, he and Ichigo had paused to consider their options. They could have joined the fights for dominance in the mountains, trying to kill or subdue an older vasto lorde and claim his or her territory. That would have been a very dangerous thing to do, though. Shiro was ranked at his mother's power and she was a middling vasto lorde. There was every chance they could run into an old terror like their father and that could get them killed or enslaved to another hollow's whims. That wouldn't be good at all, particularly for Ichigo. Shiro would make a fine mate for another vasto lorde but the odds that they would have a use for Ichigo would be slim.

So instead, they had decided to venture out into the sands of Hueco Mundo. That had the advantage of letting them experience something new. The only thing they absolutely had to do was avoid the territory Barragan controlled. Vandular knew the King of Hueco Mundo well… apparently, they'd been companions once, a long time ago… and he'd told them that the old hollow would not allow them in his territory unless they swore obedience to him and possibly mated with him. From Vandular's description that wouldn't be a terrible deal, but Shiro and Ichigo weren't interested in becoming subordinate to anyone. If they wanted that they could just stay in the mountains.

"Anything to get you to stop dry humping me at night." Ichigo muttered and Shiro put his ears back, managing to look a bit ashamed. Sexual awakening was a bit of a trial for a hollow and Shiro's hormones were acting up. He managed to hold onto his control during the day but at night he sometimes got a bit frisky, and they typically curled together for warmth. Ichigo had almost gotten molested a few times. "And he does look good." Ichigo had been hoping for something more humanoid – he had needs too and they were planning to share – but the panther had an undeniable grace. He could work with that.

"Yeah, let's do it." The both started to move, stalking the panther adjuchas with the ease of long practice. They'd hunted alone before they left the nest and they'd only gotten better at it without Van and Rin to depend on.

"Who's there?" The adjuchas stopped, turning in a circle. Ichigo marveled at his rough, almost purring voice. It was an undeniably attractive sound. "Come out, coward." The rumbling growl at the end was a challenge and the adjuchas bristled as Shiro laughed. It was a twisted, haunting sound.

"Kitty getting mad?" Shiro called mockingly before abandoning his cover. Ichigo followed a split second later, but he let Shiro take the lead in this dance. The adjuchas turned to meet the primary threat then suddenly realized the vasto lorde wasn't alone. He whirled and looked at the shinigami facing him with utter confusion.

"What the hell?" He asked and Ichigo just shrugged. It was Shiro who answered and the adjuchas turned to face him again.

"He's my brother from a different mother." Shiro said glibly and Ichigo laughed. The adjuchas laid his ears back, not amused by the obviously false answer. But then Shiro feinted at him and he growled, charging with all his not inconsiderable strength. Ichigo followed, striking at the adjuchas but in a provoking way. There was a rhythm to this sort of thing and he could feel the power rising around his brother and the adjuchas. A similar power in himself was responding and he knew his part in this.

It didn't take long for the adjuchas to recognize the purpose of the fight, the testing of his power. It was a mating dance, a ritual as old as the hollows themselves. But for a moment he stood still, glaring at them both and refusing to engage.

"I'm not interested in ending up with a belly full of your cub while you walk away, vasto lorde." He spat and Ichigo and Shiro exchanged an unsettled glance. They knew that kind of thing happened, of course. But their mother and father had both had things to say about it and they hadn't been nice.

"We're not like that." Ichigo said and the adjuchas turned his head to look at him, blue eyes hard and suspicious. "If we seed you we'll be there until the cubs are up and out of the nest."

"Yeah, and we gotta deal to offer you." Shiro took up the ball and the hollow's head turned towards him. "I'm natural born and young. This's a hard time in my life, I need to get established and I need a real mate, not just a bang." Ichigo nodded. With his power so new and strong, Shiro's body was screaming at him to mate. A single night would help but it wouldn't entirely take care of the ache. "Come with us and we'll feed ya. We'll get ya to vasto lorde. You have it in you, I can feel it."

"Hm." The hollow mulled it over for a moment before moving slowly towards Shiro on silent feet. He rubbed himself along the humanoid hollow, leaving scent markings behind. Shiro fell to his knees and returned the favor, stroking himself along the panther adjuchas. Ichigo hesitated a moment before following their lead, running his face and body across hard bone. He had no scent glands but he used his reiatsu instead, leaving a perfume that would linger on the hollow for some time. "What are your names?" The panther asked, his voice a warm purr.

"I'm Shiro Vuurenijs." His brother said softly, clawed hands exploring bone. That last name was new and the translation was 'flame and ice.' Just like their father had called himself storm dragon, the name reflected Shiro's power.

"I'm Ichigo Zangetsu." Ichigo introduced himself. He knew shinigami put their last names first but hollows didn't and he didn't want to confuse the adjuchas. "What's yours?" He asked and the panther chuckled.

"Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez." He said and Ichigo met Shiro's eyes, a moment of understanding passing between them. Adjuchas class hollows were both genders and that could lead to some very interesting things. "Hey, what the hell are you – unh…" Grimmjow's protest turned into a grunt as Ichigo slipped between his four legs, finding his sex and exploring what he found there. It was surprisingly big and he had a very full sac, heavy in his hands.

"So responsive. You haven't been playing much, have you?" Shiro purred as Ichigo moved closer. It was a little awkward but he slid his tongue over the panther's length, earning a surprised gasp from the adjuchas. Then there was a curse and Ichigo felt Shiro's power rising in slow, delicious wave. It caressed his skin with sensual energy and made him shudder. Glancing up he saw his brother taking Grimmjow slowly, easing into the clutching warmth.

Impatient with his own clothing, Ichigo pushed away his robe and began stroking himself as he claimed the adjuchas' length, sucking greedily on the dead white skin. It was uncovered from bone now and more human than panther, which was probably a good thing. He could feel the power crashing over him from his brother and his mate, and it inflamed his own lusts. As he touched himself he imagined what it would be like to be Shiro right now, taking the beautiful, dangerous hollow they were courting. How it would feel to be buried in that slick, tight body, that tail lashing against him…

If he'd been raised with shinigami this would all have seemed terribly perverted. But like a baby chick seeing a dog instead of his mother, Ichigo had bonded with a different species. Mating with Shiro would have been strange, but sharing Grimmjow between them was nothing. Ichigo swallowed around that heavy length, his breath coming more quickly as he felt the dark power bearing down on all of them. Shiro's strength was mind numbing when he was fully aroused and Grimmjow howled as with a quick series of jerks, the vasto lorde emptied himself inside him. The adjuchas came without warning but Ichigo was ready, swallowing the seed and reiatsu as he found his own moment of pleasure. He gave his own power to Grimmjow, letting the adjuchas soak up the energy of his release. It would just go to waste otherwise.

"Damn that was good." Shiro sounded completely out of it, high on his release and the satisfying of instincts. Grimmjow gave a growling purr before looking down at the shinigami between his legs.

"Really was. Never could have imagined getting blown off by a shinigami while a vasto lorde fucked me." He observed and Ichigo snorted as he pulled himself out and sat up. That did sound like some bizarre fantasy. "Now what is this bullshit about being his brother from a different mother?" The adjuchas asked and Ichigo sat back with a laugh as Shiro groaned.

"Not that story again! I've heard that story a thousand times." He complained but Ichigo snorted.

"He hasn't heard it, and it's a good story." He pointed out and Shiro laid his ears back, annoyed. But he pulled away from Grimmjow before flopping into the sands in a huff. "When Shiro's sire was flying over the sands of Hueco Mundo, he caught the scent of a strange place…" Ichigo told Grimmjow the story, just as Vandular had told it to him. It was definitely an old story but still a good one and having a fresh audience made it even better.

Some things were always good, no matter how old they were.

* * *

An unknowable amount of time passed.

Ichigo and Shiro found themselves well satisfied by their choice of mate. Despite being the weakest of the trio, Grimmjow was no one's bitch. He would stand up to them fiercely if he thought they were wrong, and he was absolutely vicious in a fight. He wasn't some weakling they had to protect, he was a power in his own right and he was growing stronger with every kill they helped him make. Not that the panther needed help, but the young vasto lorde they had just brought down would have been far beyond him.

"I almost feel bad about it." Ichigo said quietly as he watched Grimmjow feast on the kill. The vasto lorde had been a deer type, from what he could tell. Shiro looked at him quizzically. "I think he was a natural born like you. Someone put a lot of effort into raising him." That saddened him. Their kill had been on the low end of the vasto lorde scale, but someone had still put years into him before sending him into the world. Shiro shrugged.

"We got to eat so we got to kill Ichi. You know that." He said gently and Ichigo sighed before nodding. He did know that. Van and Rin had taught them both to kill quickly, mercifully, to avoid causing unnecessary pain. But they'd also taught their sons that death was an unavoidable part of life and to survive and thrive, they had to kill. "Just his bad luck that we met Grimm before we ran into him. If we'd found him first he'd've been our mate." The fact that the other vasto lorde was male wouldn't have mattered. They were all composed of male and female souls, gender didn't matter too much when it came to conception. "Oh shit!" Shiro's head went up and Ichigo looked over sharply as they felt a power rising and heard a pained, mournful howl.

Grimmjow was bent over the kill, all his muscles straining as his body began to warp. Ichigo and Shiro watched, wide eyed, as the hollow evolved in front of their eyes. The process was a bit hard to watch, as his body and reiatsu swirled and pulsed.

But then it was over and they both marveled at the new being in front of them. As a panther Grimmjow had been graceful but as a vasto lorde, he was grace itself. Pawed feet hit the sands like they owned it and pride was evident in every line of his body. He had a full mask like Shiro's, completely human now but with pointed bone ears that were vaguely catlike. A wave of blue hair spilled behind him and Ichigo couldn't wait to bury his hands in it. It looked as soft and cuddly as Shiro's pelt. The rest of Grimmjow's body was where his adjuchas heritage showed up. His hands and feet were still black and his legs hinged in a way that screamed 'cat'. As they watched the newly made vasto lorde extended a hand and admired his fingers, spreading them and flexing the new appendages.

"Hands. I swear, I've wanted hands even more than power." Grimmjow sounded so pleased that Ichigo couldn't help but smile. "Finally, I finally have hands."

"It's the little things sometimes." Shiro agreed and Ichigo nodded. They both knew how that felt although they'd never experienced anything as profound as this. "You look really fucking sexy like this." He said admiringly and Ichigo grinned as Grimmjow almost preened.

"Yeah? Well, you're looking good too Shiro." He purred and Ichigo felt the power rising. It was no surprise. A freshly turned vasto lorde would feel a powerful drive to mate. "But I think…" That was all the warning Ichigo got before the panther sprang at him. He went down with a surprised yelp as clawed hands began pulling off his clothing with surprising delicacy. But then, Grimmjow knew that replacing his robes would be a pain in the ass. "I want to fuck you." His voice was a deep growl and Ichigo scowled.

"You think I'm weaker than you?" He raised his reiatsu, forcing Grimmjow back with a pained grunt. "I don't think so." Grimmjow was vasto lorde but Ichigo had cut his teeth fighting against his father and Shiro. He wasn't afraid of the panther. There was a lilting laugh and Shiro was pressed up against Grimmjow from behind, white fingers sliding over his new vasto lorde form.

"Yah, my brother's as strong as me." Shiro said mockingly as Grimmjow growled and snarled in frustration. "If anyone's getting fucked it's you Grimmy."

"Fuck! You bastard… uh…" Grimmjow arched as Shiro bit his throat, his horns carefully angled in front of Grimmjow. "Shit. You fuckers make it worth it." He said, his voice husky and warm with lust. Ichigo started to get up but Shiro lifted his head, black and gold eyes fixing on him.

"Stay there Ichi. But get yer clothin' off." He said and Ichigo obeyed, settling back. Shiro might say they were the same strength and perhaps they were, but of the three of them Shiro was the alpha. He was second in ranking with Grimmjow taking up the lowest spot. Not that that mattered much, with a three member pack.

After a few moments, though, he was regretting listening to Shiro. His brother was exploring Grimmjow's new body and using the cat's flexibility against him. One leg was hooked over Shiro's shoulder, the black paw digging into white bone as his brother claimed his mate with quick, powerful thrusts. Grimmjow's rumbling curses rose over the sands as Shiro laughed and Ichigo swallowed hard, shifting. He was so aroused it was almost painful and he reached down to stroke himself, watching the two hollows going at it.

"F-Fuck… bastard… hell…?" Grimmjow's groan made him blink and Ichigo swallowed as he saw that Shiro has stopped and was looking at him. There was a mischievous glint in those black and gold eyes and he slowly pulled away from Grimmjow, making the panther curse him again.

"Don' get your tail in a knot. We just need to bring my brother into this." Shiro advised him and blue eyes narrowed before the elder vasto lorde pulled him towards the recumbent shinigami. He positioned a puzzled Grimmjow over Ichigo and he thought he knew what was going on. He gripped Grimmjow's cock and trapped it with his as Shiro dove back into the cat from behind. Grimmjow gasped, his arms trembling but holding him up as a new rhythm was set.

"Oh…" Ichigo groaned, feeling incredibly turned on by this. The sight of his brother and his mate above him, the hot length in his fist, throbbing in time with his own… it was all gorgeous, amazing. He couldn't get enough of it. Then Shiro laughed and Ichigo met his eyes, seeing more mischief and burning anticipation in those strange orbs.

"That's good but I had more in mind…" He purred before reaching down and giving Ichigo's length a teasing pump. White claws scraped across his skin but were easily defeated by his hierro, giving only a pleasant stimulation. "Like this." He breathed and Ichigo's mind went blank with shock as Shiro aligned him with Grimmjow's opening. He couldn't seriously…?

"Unh!?" Ichigo arched with a primitive, ecstatic sound as he was forced to follow his brother into that clutching warmth. Grimmjow's yowl was more pain than pleasure and his hands spasmed, raising furrows in the dirt beside Ichigo's head. By mutual agreement they paused, giving the panther a moment to adjust. He was trembling between them, his breathing ragged and gasping.

"Fuck you… both… ungh…!" Grimmjow's hands dug into the sand again as Shiro chuckled softly and began to move. It took Ichigo a moment but he found his brother's rhythm and they pounded into their mate together. "Shit…!" Grimmjow's voice was going husky with pleasure again and Ichigo was glad to hear it. He reached up, wrapping one arm around Grimmjow's shoulders as the other hand went to his lower back, gently rubbing him and attempting to give comfort. "Nnn… ah…" Trapped between the two of them and tormented by relentless pleasure, Grimmjow made soft, kittenish growling sounds.

Ichigo groaned as the incredible tightness surrounding him. The feeling of his mate's body, coupled with the sensation of Shiro's length beside his… he'd never imagined anything like this, would never have believed it was possible. He gently kissed the jawbone of Grimmjow's mask, feeling the warmed bone beneath his lips. As he did Shiro bit down on Grimm's throat, his head pointed carefully to avoid hurting Ichigo with his horns. The panther arched between them, crying out in pleasure. His insides contracted around them as creamy cum suddenly erupted, spraying across Ichigo's chest. Ichigo gasped, his brown eyes wide as he felt those hot insides clamp down on them both. He couldn't have resisted even if he'd wanted to and he found his own moment of pleasure, his cry drowned out by Shiro's roar. That sound would have terrified any adjuchas but to his mates, the pleasure in it was clear. Grimmjow's arms finally gave out and he collapsed on top of Ichigo, who made a small oomph sound as Shiro's weight also joined him.

"Nnn… you guys… fucking heavy…!" He squirmed, trying futiley to escape. He definitely hadn't anticipated this and it was getting hard to breath. There was a soft, amused laugh from his brother before Shiro pulled away, falling back onto his knees in the sand. "Grimm!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going." The cat said wearily before lifting himself up and sliding off Ichigo's member. He sighed in relief at the loss of the weight then frowned at himself. He was a mess and Grimmjow wasn't much better, cum stuck to his bone armor. Picking up a bit of sand he was about to start cleaning himself when Shiro gripped his wrist. Ichigo looked up, startled and his brother gave him a grin. Not that he could really see it with the bone in the way but he knew his body language.

"Let me take care o' that." He said and Ichigo smiled before settling back. Shiro began grooming him, licking away the fluids and they both glanced over as Grimmjow grumbled. He was taking care of himself by himself, his natural flexibility finding a use as he groomed himself with a catlike tongue. Shiro chuckled softly before going back to his task and Ichigo sighed, closing his eyes.

This felt so good, having his brother and their mate.


	3. Chapter 3

Vandular stood on the edge of the cliff and tilted his head, listening to the whispers on the wind.

This was a power of the vasto lorde, and not all of them could do it. No, it was reserved for the elders among them, who were so deeply in tune with Hueco Mundo that they could hear the reverberations of power, hear the comings and goings of their kind. Most of the time there was nothing but today Vandular had been awoken from a doze by a feeling of deep unease. Now he was trying to pinpoint the problem and fortunately or unfortunately, it was not difficult.

_Shinigami have come. The King has fallen._ Vandular watched, silent and unmoving, as the scene of Barragan's downfall played in his mind. He saw the illusions revealed, the devastation of Barragan's armies. _He has given up his crown._ He saw the ancient hollow kneel before the conquerors, watched as the shinigami accepted his loyalty. Then he narrowed his eyes and concentrated, trying to wring out any information he could about the strangers. He managed to isolate the auras of power and evaluate them against his own.

The result was disturbing. The dark skinned shinigami and the one with purple hair were his inferiors in terms of power, but as strong as or stronger than Rin. The one with the brown hair, though… Vandular tasted the power on his tongue and growled. That would be an even battle, a battle he could easily lose. And with the two others to support him the ancient hollow would have no hope. No wonder Barragan had fallen so easily.

Vandular took a deep breath and considered his options. It was easy enough to see that the shinigami were recruiting. If they had come to quiet the restless dead they would have destroyed Barragan, not accepted his offer of obedience. He had no idea why death gods would come to Hueco Mundo to recruit powerful hollows but to his mind it boded ill. Great disruptions in the order of things happened rarely but he'd seen something similar, once. It had been a time of great suffering.

Briefly, Vandular considered gathering a group of vasto lorde and going to end this threat. But would they follow him, and could they defeat this man with the brown hair? He honestly didn't know. Concentrating hard he listened to the winds further, trying to find every hint of his power.

_Little object, alien, stuffed full of power._ Vandular almost recoiled at the intensity of the energy he sensed. It had been hidden in the man's aura and the smallness of the object but now it practically burned his senses. That decided him and he spread his wings, leaping off his crag and catching the winds.

Powerful wingbeats, aided by sonido, quickly took him back to the den. Rin was inside, slowly polishing a portion of the walls with a rag and a bit of stone dust. She was smoothing the edges off a carving, created with nothing but claws and time. She looked up in surprise as he stepped into the den and he knew she could sense his unhappiness.

"We must leave the den." He said, glancing over the surroundings. He would miss this den. It contained the work of decades, including so many carvings of their boys. So many good memories to leave behind… but they could still carry them in their minds and hearts. Rin looked astonished, dropping her rag and standing.

"What? Why?" She asked and he told her what he had seen and felt on the winds. She was too young and too headstrong to have that ability. It required contemplation and a deep connection with Hueco Mundo, but Vandular thought she would find it in time. "The boys! What about the boys?" She sounded afraid and Vandular looked down, his wings drooping as he thought about that.

"There is nothing we can do for them." He said heavily and Rin bit her knuckles, chewing on the white bone. "The winds only carry news of great import. I cannot find them… I would have to fly over the sands to search. And if I did that…" It would be nearly impossible to make good time and conceal his power. It was one or the other, not both. If he decided to be stealthy it would take forever to find his children and if he advertised his power the shinigami would seek him out. "They will have to survive as best they can." He said softly as Rin bit back a sob. "But there is something I can do."

"What?" She asked hopelessly and Van sighed. This would not make her happier but he felt the need to follow his duty.

"I will fly through every inch of the mountains and warn the vasto lorde of the storm that is coming." He said firmly. Some of the others would already know, of course. The great old ones like himself would already be escaping but he doubted any of them would even think of spreading word. There were very few of them and he knew them well. They tended to be selfish at the best of times. At the most, they might take word to their own offspring but the rest could simply suffer. Rin looked a little confused and he continued. "It is the right thing to do. And my daughters need a warning." They would certainly not catch the message of the winds, they were far too young.

"Ah." Rin sighed, running a hand through her pelt of red hair. "I see. I will wait here until you are done." She pledged and Vandular nodded.

"It will only take me a few days." He promised and she nodded. Normally he tended to poke along a bit – why move fast when you didn't have to? – but he could move incredibly quickly when the need arose. Stepping outside the den he took to the wing.

He wanted to get this over and done with as quickly as possible.

* * *

"I mean you no harm. Please come out." Vandular said coaxingly, feeling like he was handling a particularly skittish horse. Black and silver eyes peered a him suspiciously, along with a two smaller pairs of brilliant green and gold.

"My mate will be back at the nest soon." The adjuchas said with more bravado then real hope. He could sense the power facing him and knew he would have no hope against this vasto lorde. Nor would his mate, most likely. Vandular sighed and shook out his wings.

"I have no interest in you, your mate, your den or your cubs. I bear a message." He said in a gentle tone and watched as the adjuchas cautiously stepped out. He was an insect type, vaguely humanoid but with great butterfly wings. He would be beautiful as a vasto lorde but Vandular could sense that he would never reach that goal. A poor choice in a mate, really, but from what little he could sense the vasto lorde he'd mated was weaker than Shiro had been when he'd left the nest. They lived at the far edge of the mountains, probably on the sufferance of the vasto lorde he'd visited just before this.

The pups were very cute though. Vandular smiled to himself as he saw how they were perched on their parent's shoulders. Then his temptation to smile faded. This was the first children he'd seen, likely the only ones being raised at the moment. They would present a special problem for this pair.

"Shinigami have come to Hueco Mundo…" He gave the insect adjuchas a quick rundown of events and his conclusions about what the shinigami would do next. "Normally I would suggest you flee into the wastes, but there would be no food there for yourself and the pups." He said regretfully. Those trackless, barren lands were not a place for adjuchas and certainly not a place for pups. Vasto lorde could live there, although it required not doing much to keep energy expenditures low. By lazing around and feeding on the ambient reishi they could exist comfortably, but growing pups and hungry, unbroken adjuchas did not have that option. "I would suggest going back into the sands and hoping to remain unnoticed. Avoid villages, they would be prime targets." Broken adjuchas often banded together, with no need to feed any longer. But the shinigami would surely look in those places for hollows to recruit. The adjuchas nodded slowly.

"I will speak to my mate about this. Thank you for the warning." He said and Vandular nodded before gazing longingly at the pups for a moment. He wanted to tickle then and assure then everything would be fine, but they were not his and the dam and sire would not welcome it. Instead he took to the skies, heading back towards his own den. That was the last. He could do no more and it was time for him to depart for the barren wastes. For a brief, passionate moment he wished Shiro and Ichigo were by his side. What would these strangers make of Ichigo? Would they know him? Would they want to kill him like the other shinigami had killed his dam and tried to kill his sire?

He couldn't know and Vandular struggled to put the thoughts out of his mind. He could not change it and that meant there was no point in worrying about it. All his years of life and death told him that.

It was hard to remember, though.

* * *

A lean, bone covered form dug out of the sand and hunched over on all fours for a moment before shaking violently. Bits and pieces of sand flew away, creating a nice halo and easily finding a target.

"Hey!" Ichigo sat bolt upright, sputtering as he got a faceful of sand. Shiro mumbled something and rolled over. The sand had rolled off his bone armor like a gentle rain. "You're a bastard Grimm." Ichigo said as he stood and dusted himself off. Grimmjow chuckled, twitching his tail playfully. "Why do you burrow in the sand like that anyway?" He asked, mildly vexed. The new vasto lorde shrugged.

"I don't know. It just feels good sometimes." He didn't do it all the time, just when the mood took him. And it was a good way to hide himself, when he'd been travelling alone with no one to back him up. "Another beautiful day." Grimmjow said sarcastically and Ichigo grinned. "Not a hint of rain."

"What's rain?" Shiro asked as he slowly stretched out on the sand. "Nnngh… so hey. Do we want to start going back to the mountains? Or do we want to find a den out here?" He asked and Grimmjow scratched behind his ear as Ichigo frowned thoughtfully.

"A den out here I think." He said before evaluating Shiro's power thoughtfully. "You're getting stronger but it's going to be a while before we can claim a really good spot in the mountains. And I don't want to run into someone like papi." He said fervently and Shiro nodded as Grimmjow tilted his head.

"You talk about this guy like he was a god or something. Was he really that powerful?" He asked, cleaning out his ear with a pinky. The scrape of bone against bone was a very distinctive sound. Ichigo grimaced as Shiro laughed.

"Hell ya he was! About double my power, maybe more." He said cheerfully and Grimmjow considered that for a moment before growling unhappily. "He was a big old monster. I took after mama." That was completely normal though. The lower power in the relationship determined the starting power of the offspring. If they managed to seed Grimmjow the pups would have his power level. That didn't mean they would stay there, though. Shiro was increasing rapidly due to being natural born. Ichigo thought he would be close to Vandular in strength in less than a century. They were both young and still growing into themselves.

"Double? Fucking hell. Let's go find something to eat." Grimmjow said, clearly feeling a bit demoralized. His own power was quite a bit lower than Shiro's and Ichigo's. Shiro laughed and pulled himself up, waving his tail for a moment before starting out in search of prey.

They were hiding themselves well. Prey tended to flee when it caught the scent of a vasto lorde, let alone two vasto lorde and a shinigami. But all three of them flattened themselves to the sand as a greater power rolled over them and they knew immediately that they'd been spotted.

"Shit!" Shiro exclaimed, appalled. The power that had just found them was shinigami. They both glanced at Ichigo who looked back with wide brown eyes. "Over my dead body." Shiro vowed and Grimmjow growled, flexing his hands and unsheathing his razor sharp claws.

"They're coming." Ichigo stood, drawing his blade and the two vasto lorde stood as well. They would face this threat head on, with teeth and fangs bared. There was no point in running anyway. Anyone with that kind of power to throw around would be fast.

"Mah mah. What have we hear?" A lilting voice said and Ichigo readied his sword, his brown eyes hard and determined. "Ya don't look like a hollow. Does he look like a hollow to you Sosuke?" The fox faced shinigami in front of them said to his friend, a man with brown hair and a kindly smile. They all distrusted him. Not because they were wiser than the shinigami Aizen had fooled so well, but because they violently distrusted any shinigami.

"No, he does not. But I've never met him before." Aizen said in a warm voice and Ichigo's eyes narrowed as the man looked at him curiously. "What is your name? How did you come to be here, in the company of these hollows?" His eyes easily picked out interesting details about Ichigo, his homemade robes and the sword that was as large as a shikai, yet was actually not even that. And all of them could sense the boy's immense spiritual pressure, tamed only by the things Vandular had taught him.

"Oi! That would be tellin'. And I'm the alpha around here, ya can talk to me." Shiro said arrogantly, with the intention of taking their attention away from his brother. It worked although having that attention on himself was not really a huge improvement. "I'm Shiro Vuurenijs. What the fuck you doin' here?"

"Language, child." The shinigami with the brown hair said reprovingly and Shiro's eyes narrowed as Grimmjow snarled. "You're very young, aren't you? I was told that born members of your kind have no hole. Tell me, were you born Shiro?" His voice was almost hypnotic and Shiro blinked rapidly, struggling to stay out of his spell.

"And what if I was?" He asked warily and the shinigami smiled before drawing his sword. The other two followed suit and the trio took a defensive stance.

"I was also told that born hollows are more powerful than any others. I think you should prove that to me." That was the trigger and Grimmjow leapt at the dark man with an ear piercing howl. Ichigo engaged the fox faced one and it was left to Shiro to take the man with brown hair if he could.

He couldn't. He knew that as soon as blade and claws clashed and a dreadful spiritual pressure bore down on him. But he fought with every ounce of skill and power at his disposal, pulling out every trick his papi had taught him. Silvery fire shrouded his body and he lashed out with the quick little cero's his father had called bala. That kept the shinigami moving but he was smiling and Shiro's eyes narrowed. Was the bastard playing with him?

"Ichi, Grimm! Run!" He came to a quick decision and summoned all of his power. He would overload himself, cause his own destruction to end these soul reapers and let his mate and brother –

The thought was never completed. A sword ripped through bone armor and Shiro's thoughts became vague and disconnected as he became aware of immense pain. He lost his grip on his energy as an alien power seized his mind and forced him into darkness. He vaguely heard Ichigo cry out and Grimmjow's howl of anguish before he was dragged into a river of emptiness.

* * *

"Hngh." Shiro woke up to more blinding pain and the sight of a female hollow tending to his wounds. "Hnck?" He made a gargling but inquiring sound but the female said nothing. She was downright odd looking, in his opinion. Her skin was naked and shinigami like and her body was covered in simple white cloth. The only bone she had was her featureless mask, which he did not like. Shiro preferred a real face like his own or Grimmjow's. Grimmjow's mask even had little green marks by the eyes, leading to his ears. It made him look individual, much like the red stripes on his. "…Da hell you chained?" He managed to say as he saw the other peculiarity. She was wearing chains above and beneath her clothes. Still nothing but she offered him a drink. "Nnngh?" Completely uncertain about what would be in the carafe, Shiro refused it. Hueco Mundo had no water so it wasn't that. "Argh!" He tried to bolt upright as he suddenly remembered his ignoble failure. But his wounds defeated him and Shiro fell back with a groan. "Sh-shit…" He panted as the female left the room. Glancing down he took in his injuries and grimaced behind his mask. He was pretty damn fucked up, although in no danger of dying at the moment. He really needed a good meal though, if he was going to start healing. Then the female came back with the dark skinned shinigami.

"Stay where you are." He instructed before resting his hands on warm bone. Shiro was about to say something but blinked and kept his mouth shut as he felt a warm energy infuse him. This felt like the time he'd managed to hurt himself on a hunt and Van had licked his wounds closed. His father had imparted power to him in much the same way.

"The hell you healin' me for?" Because that was what the shinigami was doing. The man ignored him, just concentrating on his task and Shiro frowned behind his mask. "Well just ignore me then." He muttered, irritated. The man flicked him a glance and Shiro wondered how he could see with those strange things over his eyes. Well, why the hell not? "How can you see like that?" He asked and the shinigami kept his attention on the wounds but finally spoke.

"I cannot. I have been blind from birth." He said and Shiro blinked, surprised. A hollow child born with such a disability probably wouldn't make it. It would depend a lot on the sire and dam. His own sire likely would have cared for him even if he was blind, and taught him how to overcome his disability but that would be the exception rather than the rule.

"Your sire and dam must be proud of you." He said without thinking and the shinigami gave him a startled look before pulling his hands away. Shiro cautiously moved and winced. The shinigami had healed him but only partially, which was likely good sense on his part. "Where's my mate and my brother?" He asked, fear suddenly gripping him as he turned his head, struggling to sense them. After a few moments he caught their spiritual pressure. It was weak though.

"They are being healed. I will take you to see them." The strange shinigami rose and offered him a hand. Shiro took it cautiously, mindful of his claws. He hissed in pain as he stood and followed the shinigami out. He wasn't even tempted by the sight of the man's back. Even if he succeeded in killing this one, which was doubtful, that would leave the other two. He was in no condition for that kind of shit.

As it turned out, only Grimmjow was being healed. The new vasto lorde was battered and very badly hurt, his bone armor torn and ripped. Shiro knelt down beside him and worriedly checked him over with his senses before breathing a small sigh of relief. Grimmjow would recover sooner than later and he hadn't lost any of his essence. That was very important. When a hollow was broken they stopped evolving and became sterile. Shiro wanted cubs and if Grimmjow had been sterilized he might have kept the panther as a packmate and friend, but he would have needed a new mate.

"He's going to be fine." Ichigo said weakly and Shiro glanced up before nodding. The fox faced shinigami was healing Grimmjow, he was sure his mate would be fine.

"Are you okay?" He asked and Ichigo nodded with a grimace. Shiro could smell the blood on him but his reiatsu seemed steady so he decided to let it go. "You gonna tell us what we're here for?" He asked the fox faced shinigami who just gave him an enigmatic smile.

"Nah, that's for Aizen an' his new pet." He said and Shiro's eyes narrowed. New pet? Then his eyes widened as the brown eyed shinigami and a hollow stepped into the room.

He recognized the hollow immediately, of course. Animate skeletons were not really common in Hueco Mundo. Most vasto lorde assumed a humanoid form but with animal touches, and there were often just the barest hints of flesh beneath the bones. Barragan was quite a bit different and Vandular had described the ancient hollow to his sons in tones that were quite respectful. Apparently, they had enjoyed each other's company and parted on amicable terms.

"The hell?" He said, caught off guard. Vandular had told him to stay away from Los Noches mostly because of Barragan, but he'd mentioned the hollow's armies in passing. His sire had regarded them with sad amusement, as a plaything for the terminally bored. Barragan had no artistic talent and was not much inclined towards children, so he needed something to occupy himself. Still… "How powerful are you anyway?" He asked the shinigami, slightly shocked. Because it was clear who was in charge here and it wasn't Barragan. He brushed away the question.

"I am Aizen Sosuke. Aizen is my last name, please call me that." He said and Shiro flicked his ears, a bit puzzled as to why anyone would want to be called by their last name. But he was just as glad to get the information. They knew absolutely nothing about shinigami courtesy. "This is Tosen Kaname and this is Ichimaru Gin."

"Jus' call me Gin, I like it better." The fox faced shinigami said cheerfully and Shiro nodded.

"Yeah, well, I'm Shiro." He said before gesturing at his brother. "That's my brother, Ichigo Zangetsu. This's our mate, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez." His mate was groaning now, starting to awaken. Shiro gently rested a hand on his shoulder, pulling his power over him like a blanket to help prevent any angry outbursts. He knew Grimm and there was a high likelihood he'd wake up furious.

"Your power. I recognize the feel of it. Was your sire Vandular?" Barragan asked, gazing at him critically. "Hard to believe that any of his spawn would be so weak." He said and Shiro stiffened as Ichigo scowled, offended for his brother.

"Fuck you! Papi never mentioned you bein' the lapdog of shinigami." Shiro snarled at the ancient hollow. He could easily sense Barragan's temper rising it and matched it with his own, clashing powers fearlessly. Then Ichigo added his strength to the mix and Barragan flinched slightly before Aizen's power smothered them all. Shiro and Ichigo both winced at that and Grimmjow woke with a start. "Fuck… if you really want to know, I'm fresh off the nest." He muttered, still gripping Grimmjow's shoulder. "We grow fast but it still takes a bit of fucking time."

"Truly? You are very young then." Aizen said and Shiro just nodded. He glanced at Ichigo assessingly and the teen scowled back. "How did you come to be here?" He asked and Shiro sighed. But to his surprise, Ichigo didn't tell the story, not really.

"Shiro's sire found me abandoned in the sands and adopted me to raise with his pup." Ichigo said evenly and Shiro blinked, glad the bone was hiding his expressions. That was true of course, but it was very far from the whole truth. Then he got the idea. Ichigo was trying to hide the circumstances that had brought him here. The story about his real sire and the pure place might give Aizen all too many clues about his identity. Aizen looked politely skeptical of his story.

"I find it difficult to believe any hollow would take in a shinigami child, let alone raise it to adulthood." He said and glanced at Barragan as the old hollow made a grumbling sound.

"If any hollow would be capable of such a thing, it would be Vandular Sturmdragger." He said and Shiro could see his father had made a strong impression on Barragan. Well, who wouldn't be impressed by the old dragon? "He loves children and has a soft spot for helpless things. Odd, for a hollow, but he is very old."

"We should attempt to find this hollow." Aizen said thoughtfully and Shiro sniggered. "Hm? Does that amuse you?" He asked and there was a faint trace of something in his voice and expression that put Shiro on guard. He had a bad feeling this shinigami was smarter than the three of them combined. Grimmjow was growling softly, curled up against his side but he had the good sense not to do anything rash. Shiro gently squeezed his shoulder, reassuring his mate before answering the shinigami.

"Papi's stronger than Barragan by a lot, smart as hell and when he's outnumbered he don't fight fair." Shiro said frankly, a bit worried that he was giving away too much information. But he had to say something. "I don't think you'll find him and if you do, you'll wish you hadn't." His sire wouldn't like this one little bit. Shiro had absorbed his teachings like a sponge, and Vandular believed in the cycle of things, their place in the cosmos. He had a very shamanistic approach to the afterlife and death gods coming to Hueco Mundo would offend him on a deep level. Aizen was expressionless for a moment but then he smiled.

"We will see. For now, rest and recover. We will discuss your fate tomorrow." He said and Shiro winced as he sensed the wards snapping into place around the room as the shinigami left. He'd test them, but he had a definite feeling they were going nowhere fast. Fate? That didn't sound too good. On the plus side, it looked like the shinigami wanted them alive for something.

He would just have to find out what.


	4. Chapter 4

Shiro knelt on the ground and watched with burning hate as Aizen began the process of breaking Barragan's mask. Not that he cared the least about the old hollow but he and Grimmjow would be next.

"Aren't you the cutest thing?" Grimmjow coo'd and Shiro felt a bit of amusement as Gin smiled and Tosen twitched in irritation. "Yes you are! Who wants a belly rub? Aw, you do!" His mate was kneeling too but that let him play with the hollow whose mask the shinigami had recently broken. Aizen had wanted to be absolutely sure he knew what he was doing before he created his arrancar, so he'd broken plenty of small things. This one was smaller than most.

"You really like that thing." Ichigo observed. He was kneeling on the other side of Grimmjow. Aizen wanted them on their knees, probably as a statement of some kind.

They had been given no choice about serving Aizen. And unfortunately, the brown haired man had the power to make it stick. Realizing there was very little he could offer the three of them and no way he could mollify their profound distrust of any shinigami, he had resorted to threats. The primary threat was against Grimmjow.

Shiro had suspected that he'd seeded his mate. He really hadn't expected anything to come of it, though. They were both very young… but Grimmjow actually wasn't. In terms of years he was much older than Shiro and the young hollow had briefly forgotten that. He'd realized his mistake when Grimmjow had mentioned raising two litters as an adjuchas. So now they had cubs on the way and Aizen was highly motivated to make sure Grimmjow kept them. They removed the vasto lorde from play, true, but they also turned him into a valuable hostage against Ichigo and Shiro. He would be very vulnerable soon.

Shiro scowled behind his mask of bone. The thought of anyone touching his mate enraged him. But Aizen had already proven he was too powerful for the young vasto lorde. He could only submit and hope for the best.

Barragan's mask shattering went off without a hitch. It was really odd to see the broken fragments lying everywhere and the human shape kneeling on the floor. Barragan pulled himself up, glancing himself over as he was offered a robe. He quickly put it on and Shiro was just as glad. He'd honestly found the old hollow more attractive as a skeleton.

Then it was Grimmjow's turn. He gave the little critter to Ichigo, who cuddled it to his chest with an awww sound. Shiro sighed to himself. He honestly couldn't understand the appeal. Sure, it was cute and fuzzy but it was completely worthless. It had no power to speak of and only existed on the ambient reishi. It was cub food and hunting practice. Then Shiro brightened. Maybe they could feed it to their pup? After making the pup work for the kill of course…

Aizen took his time breaking Grimmjow's mask. If he hadn't cared about the tiny reiatsu flecks inside him, it would have been easy. But he wanted to preserve that growing power and that meant being very, very careful. Finally the mask was shattered and Shiro and Ichigo both stared at what was revealed.

"…You are fucking hot!" Shiro exclaimed as Grimmjow sat up, blinking and rubbing his face. "Big too…" He muttered, his gaze going a bit lower. Then Grimm was offered a towel, to his mild disappointment. Ichigo elbowed him in the side and Shiro looked over to see his sibling was grinning.

"Try to pull your tongue in." He advised and Shiro huffed before standing. It would be his turn next. He hoped that his appearance came out half as nicely as Grimmjow's.

Taking his spot in the centre of the room, Shiro felt a great deal of apprehension. He would be lying if he said he wasn't afraid of this. Well, who wouldn't be afraid? Whatever Aizen said there had to be a chance things would go wrong and really, he was happy with himself the way he was. Sure, Grimmjow looked amazing but he'd looked amazing as a full hollow too. More power was nice but if he'd just had more time he would have gotten that anyway –

Then the hogyoku illuminated him in purple light and Shiro screamed in pain. The agony of it seemed to invade the core of his being, igniting something inside him and rousing it to an inferno. Vaguely, Shiro was aware that this wasn't right. Grimmjow and Barragan hadn't been in pain… and their power hadn't exploded out of them like this.

On the sidelines, Ichigo had just passed the little hollow to Grimmjow before everything went wrong. He didn't know what was happening anymore than Shiro did but he knew his brother was screaming and he could feel how out of control the power radiating from him was. It was spiking and jolting in an irregular fashion that felt like it had to be close to shattering Shiro's very soul. The shinigami were all struggling to shield themselves and Ichigo knew they would be no help.

"SHIRO!" He launched himself forwards, fighting to get past the silver flames. That was Shiro's power, flames of heat or cold, but he'd never felt them like this. They licked at him but refused to burn him, recognizing their connection as close kin. "SHIRO!" To his horror he saw the natural born hollow was losing his grip on his physical form, threatening to vanish in a puff of silver and black. "NO!" Ichigo managed to touch his brother.

What followed was pure instinct. Sensing the dangerous instability Ichigo automatically reached out, combining his power with Shiro's. Shiro reacted from his own instinct, desperately seeking something to ground him and pull him out of the deadly decay. And the two powers merged, silver and gold flashing together. For a brief moment there was only one, and in that moment a massive reiatsu filled the fortress of Los Noches. It was like a natural disaster, utterly destroying Barragan's remaining servants and most of the small things Aizen had played with. Everyone else in the room struggled against it, trying to maintain their balance against the deadly rush of power.

Then it was gone. The brothers abruptly separated and Shiro fell to his knees, panting, his eyes wide and staring. Ichigo collapsed beside him, utterly spent. Aizen tilted his head to one side, evaluating them both as Gin and Tosen shakily got to their feet. Barragan pulled himself up as Grimmjow stayed crouched over his pet, shuddering in reaction. There was a long pause before anyone spoke.

"…I believe I know what that was." Barragan ventured and he turned his head to look at the ancient hollow. Barragan was partly serving as a guide to all things hollow, since shinigami in general really didn't know the higher end of the species well. "It is only speculation but I think the process of having his mask broken brought him to his full potential, all at once." He said and Aizen smiled. However, someone else was not nearly as happy.

"…I don't care if I'm as strong as papi now! You almost killed me! I COULD HAVE DIED!" The shriek made everyone in the room wince and Ichigo groaned. "Ichi could've died too! What in the name of an antelope's asshole is wrong with you?!"

"Antelope's asshole? I'm ganna remember that one." Gin said with a wide grin. "Yer a strange boy Shiro-chan." He said teasingly as the hollow sputtered. Ichigo sat up and Grimmjow stared at them both for a moment.

"Has anyone noticed something really weird here?" He said, still holding the little hollow. It had only survived because he'd shielded it with his aura and it was cowering, completely terrified. Aizen glanced at him and he elaborated. "They're not really brothers. Why are they identical?" All attention went back to the two on the ground and they glanced at each other, surprised.

It was true though. Instead of taking on his own appearance, which should have happened, Shiro was a pale reflection of Ichigo. The only real difference was his hair, which was long and flowed down his back. But other than that, they were inverted twins.

"Of course. Shiro was in the process of being destroyed by his own power when Ichigo joined with him, stabilizing his soul and body. That must have caused Shiro to assume a form similar to his." Aizen said and Shiro glanced himself over dubiously. Then he shrugged.

"Well, that's okay. Hey, we really look like brothers now!" He grinned and caught Ichigo with an arm around his neck before rubbing his hair. His brother squirmed, trying to fight him off.

"Hey, stop! I just spent all my energy saving you and this is what you do?" He protested and Shiro let go of him with a laugh before standing on shaky legs. "By the way, you've got a big cock too." He added and Shiro laughed, pushing back a bit of his hair.

"Why thank you! Oh thanks." He took the robe Tosen offered him, although the shinigami probably just didn't want to hear anymore cock talk. Hard to blame him really.

The next few months consisted of a lot of work. Aizen didn't really trust them, which was only intelligent. So Shiro was forced to accompany him and Barragan while Grimmjow and Ichigo remained at Los Noches with Gin and Tosen. It was possible but not probable that Ichigo and Grimm could overwhelm their captors, so they submitted with ill grace. That wasn't the only submission involved, though.

"Grimm, what do you think you're doing?" Ichigo asked with a deadly calm as the blue haired man over him grinned. They were living in a tent, as they tried to turn Los Noches into something the shinigami considered habitable. It was rough going since they had bodily needs that hollows didn't share. Strangely enough, Ichigo didn't share them either. But he'd been eating hollows for a long time and had no plans to stop. His body musk was mostly hollow as well, which didn't bother Gin much. It did seem to bother Tosen, but he was blind. No doubt his sense of smell was sharper than most shinigami could claim.

"I'm going to fuck you." Grimmjow promised and Ichigo's eyes narrowed. He clashed his reiatsu against Grimmjow's and grunted as he realized that having his mask broken had increased his mate's strength. Not as much as Shiro – that had been insane – but still to a significant degree. He gazed into blue eyes, his own brown ones smoldering.

"You're going to have to work for it." He growled and struggled, fighting with every dirty trick at his disposal. The clashing of reiatsu sent twinges of pleasure through his body and soon he was hard under his makeshift robes. Grimmjow was still wearing the clothing he'd donned as a vasto lorde, a tattered green loincloth. It was doing nothing at all to hide his massive erection. Ichigo shuddered a little at the thought of that inside him. Would it even fit? But Grimmjow had taken him and Shiro at the same time… Slightly distracted by that thought, Ichigo gasped as Grimmjow managed to get the best of him. He was pinned on his stomach, his ass in the air and his mate growled before slowly beginning to penetrate him.

It hurt. It hurt, but he was expecting that and the feral, hollow part of his soul relished the pain. Ichigo gave a short, sharp yelp as Grimmjow suddenly surged forward, seating himself completely in his body. There was a trickle of warmth down his thigh but Ichigo knew it wasn't blood. His hierro was too strong for this kind of thing to actually tear him.

"God you feel so fucking good." Grimmjow sounded like he was losing his mind. Ichigo gasped as the arrancar began to move, slowly easing in and out of him. The burn was fading and the slow, teasing pressure made him groan. Grimmjow was being gentle with him, mindful of his shinigami body, but…

"Fuck me… this century!" He gasped out and Grimmjow chuckled, his breath a warm puff against his neck. Then the cat gripped the back of his neck with his teeth before hammering in. "AH!" Ichigo arched in pleasure and pain as Grimmjow took him hard and fast, just the way he wanted. It felt amazing and it got better as his lover found something inside him, something that sent bursts of fire to his groin. "Oh shit do that again!" He moaned and Grimmjow obliged, abusing that spot inside him. "Fuck!"

Grimmjow's thrusts were so hard now that they were raising puffs of sand, and Ichigo groaned as he felt the hard grains rasping against his cheek and chest. Shoving himself up on one elbow he reached down, finding his aching member and stroking himself as the pleasure skyrocketed. Grimmjow laughed, a deep, amused sound and Ichigo blushed before hissing at him.

"Just… shut up and… agh!" Ichigo gasped as another hammer blow hit him, burning him from the inside out, and teeth dug into his skin almost painfully. He didn't know why Grimmjow liked the back of his neck so much and he didn't care. This felt simply glorious. Closing his eyes he kept touching himself, bringing himself closer and closer to climax as Grimmjow rumbled, a low, almost purring sound.

Ichigo moaned as he started to get close. The brutal, animal sex was taking its toll on his body, and he couldn't hold out forever. He panted harshly, squeezing his throbbing cock before digging his thumb into the head. Grimmjow picked that exact moment to nail that spot inside him and Ichigo arched with a choked scream, his white cum shooting out in ribbons, staining the dull sands. Grimmjow's hips jerked once, twice, and then he let go of his neck and howled. It was a loud, intense sound, easily as intense as the powerful orgasm that shook his body. Ichigo panted harshly as he felt the panther cum inside him, filling him with hot seed. Fortunately, nothing would come of it. Even if shinigami males could conceive, it wouldn't matter. Grimmjow's condition made it impossible.

"…Damn it, we've fucked up the floor." Ichigo said tiredly, gazing at the mess on the ground. Grimmjow chuckled before sliding out and the young shinigami winced as he felt cum spill down his leg. That was new, he'd never been on the receiving end before.

"Like that's a problem. Let's just throw it outside." Grimmjow said and Ichigo nodded. That was a practical solution to the problem. Handfuls of wet sand got tossed, and a quick licking cleaned him off enough to sleep. As they lay together, Ichigo spoke sleepily.

"Grimm?" He waited until the arrancar mumbled something before continuing. "When I learn to control my sword spirit, I'm going to fuck you so hard you won't be able to walk for a week." Only a snore answered him and Ichigo smiled to himself. "Oh well."

It might be better if it came as a surprise.

* * *

"Fuck my life." Shiro felt mentally and physically exhausted by all this.

Physically exhausted because he'd been pushing himself hard. His power was new, filling him to the brim, but that only meant Aizen could force him to move faster than he ever had in his life. Shiro knew his father could move this fast, but rarely did. He didn't believe in exerting himself beyond what was necessary.

It was an attitude Shiro generally shared, but he wasn't allowed to indulge it now. Aizen had set him to searching for vasto lorde over the sands with Barragan for company. The elderly hollow could keep up with him although it was difficult for him. That didn't matter, though. They mostly split up to cover more territory, meeting when the need for rest or the discovery of a victim demanded it.

They weren't really victims though. The weird hollow that was actually two had been completely docile and willing to go along with them. Very powerful but completely lacking in control, Shiro hadn't been terribly impressed. But he could sense Starrk and Lilynette were naturally evolved and quite old. He didn't know how they'd managed to avoid learning to leash their reiatsu, but odd things happened in Hueco Mundo. They hadn't even known about the mountains.

Aizen himself was scouting out the mountains. Shiro hoped that he didn't run into Vandular. He wasn't sure who would win that battle but he was absolutely certain his father would fight in earnest. That was not a cheerful thought at all.

Something caught his attention and he circled, blinking at the dazzling reflections. His aerial maneuvers were not nearly as graceful as his papi's, but he had no wings. That was just how it was and there was no point lamenting it. Any thoughts of that were quickly wiped away with astonishment.

"What is that?" Shiro asked the world as he came in for a landing. "Huh!" It was a crystal lattice. He'd seen the stone 'trees' of Hueco Mundo, of course. They were everywhere and largely meaningless, although they could sometimes provide good raw materials for artwork. Shiro recalled a stone 'vase' his father had made, and his mother and filled with a 'bouquet' of shattered crystal stems. It had been gorgeous until he and Ichigo had broken it in a bit of play that had gotten out of hand.

This, though, was larger than any normal tree. It was huge and the spikes looked razor sharp. Shiro tried to shatter one and it broke easily, weak compared to his power. He was about to turn away when he felt the fading pulse of reiatsu. Moving to investigate he found a limp form lying in the field of crystal.

"Holy shit!" He yelped as he took in the scene. There were shattered bits of mask everywhere. Hollows could shatter their own masks if they had the strength of will or some kind of tool to help them. This hollow had clearly found his tool, although Shiro had no idea why he'd bothered. Partial arrancar were no stronger than true hollows. And… "Well, you are a fucked up mess." He said as he examined the prone body. Bright green eyes just looked at him solemnly. "Are you doing something in there?"

"No. I am nothing." The stranger said and Shiro blinked at the answer. That was weird, but evolved hollows could be pretty damned strange sometimes. The things that led them to become hollows in the first place sometimes never got sorted out.

"Well, you'll definitely be nothing if you keep up that attitude." He said flatly then began breaking the hedge surrounding him. He hissed as crystals managed to penetrate his hierro. "Holy hell this is nasty! You must be crazy." Shiro growled as he continued fighting with the stone. Finally he managed to free the hollow and pull him out. "Shit…" He mumbled before concentrating his power in his hands, imparting it as a healing infusion. The hollow just stared at him, his green eyes almost sad.

"I need you to come with me to Los Noches." Shiro said as he finished the healing. He didn't want to heal the strange hollow to the point that he could be a danger but he needed the male to be ambulatory. "What's your name?" He asked and the hollow just looked at him for a moment before shaking his head.

"I have no name." He said and Shiro stared at him. He really was weird as hell. If he and Ichi had run into him before they'd found Grimmjow, they would never have considered him for a mate, even though he was vasto lorde. They'd likely have eaten him. Shaking that thought aside he shrugged and offered the hollow a hand. He took it, pulling himself to his feet.

"You'll have to fix that, unless you want some horrible nickname. C'mon." Shiro started off and the hollow spread his wings, flying behind him. He was far more graceful in the air, which was vaguely annoying. But he couldn't help not being a creature of the skies. He'd taken after the lizard portion of his father's base form.

That couldn't be helped, but hopefully Aizen would be happy with this prize.

* * *

When Aizen met them in Los Noches he was in a foul mood. It was subtle but clear to everyone, and since he had absolutely no vasto lorde with him they didn't have to ask why. The mountains must have cleared out before he even got close to them. Barragan had warned him, but even with Aizen's speed it had taken several days to reach the mountains. That had been long enough for word to spread.

His mood quickly sweetened, though, as he met the hollows they had brought in. Ulquiorra had named himself and Starrk and Lilynette were a fine prize. Shiro was actually using his power to dampen them, making it possible for them to live around the powerful adjuchas without killing them. It was a bit of a strain, but there was no choice. Cirucci, Gantenbainne and Dordoni were not weak but right now, Starrk's power would devour them.

"I hope breaking their masks gives them some damned control. Or maybe you can use that shikai of yours to teach them control?" Shiro said to Aizen and his lord and master just nodded. He knew about the shikai from Barragan. A frightening power and the shinigami had likely used it to make him fall unconscious, the first time they met.

"That lack of control ain't normal?" Gin asked as Starrk looked mildly embarrassed. Lilynette was scowling as they waited for the Hogyoku to be set up.

"No. Never seen anything like it before." Shiro said shortly. Starrk was immensely powerful, close to the upper end of the vasto lorde class, but he wasn't as powerful as Vandular. And his father had never, ever spilled out energy like this. Control was so deeply ingrained in him that he didn't abandon it even in his sleep. All the other vasto lorde he'd met were like that. Not that he'd met many, but his sire had enjoyed showing him and Ichigo off to a few of his friends in the mountains. They'd even met their half-sisters, a pair of rather lovely twins.

The shatterings went off without a hitch, which was good. Cirucci and the others all got done at the same time. The only unusual part was an adjuchas named Yammy. He was natural born too, but Aizen was ready for the onslaught of power after the breaking. It still came close to destroying him but finally evened out at a level just barely above Starrk… but it felt weird. Shiro frowned, tasting the energy, and decided he didn't like it. Something was off about it. Putting it out of mind, he waited patiently as Aizen began to speak.

"As you know, the ten most powerful among you will be my swords. This process has just begun, but it is time to name my first Espada." He smiled at them benevolently. Shiro didn't trust it for a moment. "Shiro, you will be my cero." He said and Shiro blinked. Zero? "As hollows are creatures of emptiness, that will be the highest of ranks."

"Erm, okay." He said cautiously and Aizen continued. Starrk was the Primera, while Barragan was the Segunda. It was odd, but Yammy got the Tercero spot. His power was very low in his sealed form but quite high in his resurrection, so Aizen decided to put him there. Ulquiorra was the Quatro, and after that came to adjuchas. And that made Shiro scowl.

"Hey, why ain't Grimmjow after Ulquiorra?" He asked, a little perturbed. His mate was approximately the same power as the green eyed hollow. Aizen smiled at him, gentle and understanding.

"When a shinigami is pregnant they are expected to avoid danger. How could he function as an Espada?" He asked and Shiro frowned before nodding reluctantly. He did have a point. "And after the child is born he will be required to tend it. You will be taking his place in my Espada, and I expect only the best from you, cero. Do you understand?" His tone was very civilized but Shiro understood the implied threat all too well.

"Like crystal." He said through gritted teeth and Aizen continued. Not all the Espada slots were filled, but most of them. Shiro doubted it would stay that way, though. Hollows would fight for rank in the pack and they would undoubtedly find a few more powers to bring in. Then Aizen got to something interesting.

"Ichigo is not a hollow, so he will not be considered an Espada. However, I expect any Espada of less than Quatro rank to answer to him as if he were above them. Is that understood?" He said and the lower Espada acquiesced instantly. They all knew that Ichigo held more raw power than they did. "Good. Now, return to your duties." They had many, many duties. It was taking a lot to turn Los Noches into something the shinigami could tolerate. Hollows didn't need much but shinigami did.

"I'm glad you're finally going to get to stay for a while." Ichigo said as Shiro nodded wearily. Aizen was finally giving him and Barragan a break, largely because the elderly hollow had kicked up a fuss. He was more willing to exert himself than Shiro, but he also tired more quickly. "Grimmjow's been pounding me into the sand." Ichigo sounded highly annoyed and Shiro blinked in surprise before grinning widely.

"Oh, can't keep up with kitty now that he's broken his mask?" He teased his brother who glared at him, reaching back to grasp the hilt of his sword. Not in a threatening way, though. More to stroke the hilt.

"I can't figure out the name of my zanpakuto. Tosen says I can't learn anything until I can do that!" He complained and Shiro's grin widened to shark like proportions.

"Oh, I can help you out with that." He said, highly entertained as Ichigo stared at him in surprise. "It's Zangetsu." He said cheerfully as the redhead's brown eyes went wide. He looked absolutely shocked. "What? You pulled that name outta your ass one day. What else would it be?" It was so obvious. Ichigo looked like he thought his brother was insane, but gripped the hilt of his sword.

"Zangetsu?" He said tentatively then yelped as the blade suddenly changed. Instead of the odd, stubby thing it had been it became a large blade that looked rather nasty to Shiro's eyes. "You… you…!"

"No need to thank me. It was – hah!" Shiro dodged as an infuriated Ichigo took a swing at him with his new shikai. "How ungrateful – woo hoo!" He laughed and ran, leaping over a started Cirucci, causing Ichigo to run right into her. "I know you like the girls but – ha! Missed me – umph!" The foot to the face caught him by surprise and Shiro went flying. Then he laughed and decided to take the offensive, catching Ichigo's sword against his own and belting him in the stomach. His brother doubled over in pain but recovered almost instantly, glaring at him through slitted eyes. Shiro just grinned, meeting that gaze fearlessly as they sparred and tested Ichigo's new power. Ichigo really was angry with him, but in the end it was just a spar. They would never really hurt each other.

They were brothers, after all.


	5. Chapter 5

Ichigo fought in grim silence, his eyes narrowed as he tried to anticipate his opponent. The shinigami he was facing moved with incredible speed but he matched it, blocking a blow that would have stung, although little else.

He was sparring with Tosen but to prevent annoying injuries, they had their swords in special kido sheaths. Ichigo's sword was always in shikai which gave him a little bit of an edge, but only a little bit. Tosen was vastly more experienced and his equal in power. Ichigo didn't expect to win, he expected to learn.

"Getsuga Tenshou!" Ichigo tossed the power at his opponent, but it was a deliberately weak strike. Both because this was only a spar, and because he intended it as a feint. Tosen dodged and got a nasty rap on his arm, which made Ichigo grin as he went by. That grin turned into a yelp of pain as the shinigami nailed him on the hip. They separated and Ichigo winced, reaching down to rub the sting. If this had been a real battle they both would have been bleeding now.

"You fight recklessly but well." Tosen said and overall, Ichigo thought that was a compliment. It was also close to what Vandular would have said. Then the shinigami sheathed his sword. "Aizen wants us."

"Huh?" Ichigo said, surprised, then felt the summons. "Oh." He put his sword onto his back as Tosen smiled, just a bit.

"If you hadn't missed it, I would be questioning my own skill." He said as they started out. "A student's attention should always be on his teacher." That made Ichigo laugh.

"True enough." He agreed with a smile. He honestly liked Tosen and wondered why the shinigami was here. He seemed entirely too nice to be so closely associated with Gin and Aizen. Although Gin was nice, in a way. Ichigo had caught him petting that little hollow of Grimmjow's a few times.

When he arrived in the throne room he was surprised to see that Grimmjow and Shiro were both there. Grimmjow was starting to get pudgy and was wearing a loose fitting white yukata, suitable for his pregnancy. The blue haired hollow gave him a questioning look and Ichigo just shrugged. He had no idea what was going on either.

"Ah, Ichigo. I'm so glad to see you." Aizen said, his voice warm and pleased. It looked genuine, not that they could really tell. "Gin?" He said over his shoulder and they all stared as the silver haired shinigami herded in two little hollow children.

"The hell?" Shiro asked as Ichigo stared and Grimmjow growled a low protest. The children weren't babies, exactly. Past the age of weaning but probably just starting to run around, they were too young to be out of the nest. Not even an adjuchas parent would turn them away, and certainly no vasto lorde would. Judging from the power these were the children of a vasto lorde and an adjuchas. Ichigo took a moment to examine them.

They were both humanoid, which was a little surprising. Most mixed cubs took after the lower powered parent, but perhaps that had been a rare, humanoid adjuchas. Both of the little ones had beautifully colored butterfly wings and tiny horn buds. The horns appeared to be growing back like a goat's, but it was a bit soon to say for sure. Ichigo glanced down at their feet and nodded. They both had cloven hooves, so those likely were goats' horns forming. The two little ones were gripping each other and trembling, clearly terrified of everyone in the room. Gin was trying to soothe them but not having much luck.

"This will impact you all, which is why I called you here." Aizen said and their attention went back to him. "But Grimmjow will be the most impacted. These are the children of my new Quinta Espada." Ichigo winced to himself as Shiro scowled. He had a feeling he knew what was coming. "Fortunately, they do not require intense care from their mother or father. But I don't want more than one powerful hollow removed from my forces. Would you be willing to tend to them, Grimmjow?" He made it a request but they all knew it was pretty much an order. Grimmjow bristled, though.

"Hey, I have my own litter coming! If they decide I've really adopted them, they might try to kill my litter." He protested and Shiro scratched his head, gazing at the twins thoughtfully. One of them was crying, very quiet little sobs.

"They're vasto lorde Grimm, we don't usually swing that way." Shiro said before shrugging. "This situation is all fucked up." Ichigo nodded. This was very strange.

"Why haven't you broken their masks?" He asked. The little ones were full hollows, with normal enough masks. The female of the two had wavy purple lines on her mask, and lovely golden eyes. The mask covered her head completely, like Shiro's had, but green hair slid down her back. The male of the pair had straight green slashes beneath his eyes, leading down, and bright green eyes. His hair was light pink. Aizen shook his head.

"I believe the process would kill them. And their mother has sworn not to serve me if they are harmed." Aizen said and they all understood. These two were hostages, just like Grimmjow. And Aizen wanted to put the hostages together. They all looked at the blue haired hollow and he sighed, rubbing his mask fragments.

"I guess I don't have much choice." He said without much grace. "But if either of you harms my new litter I'll eat you. And don't think I'm adopting you!" He threatened and the second child also began to cry. Ichigo gave him an admonishing look before kneeling beside the children. They flinched from him, holding each other like there was nothing else in the world.

"Hey there." Ichigo said coaxingly, trying to use his reiatsu to calm them. Gin had been trying but he'd obviously spent years learning to intimidate people with his reiatsu alone. Suddenly trying to switch gears and calm toddlers was a bit hard. "We'll take care of you while your parents are gone. I'm Ichigo. What are your names?" He asked softly and there was a lot of sniffling before one of them responded.

"I'm Suisen." The little girl said tearfully. That was Japanese for daffodil and a very cute baby name. Ichigo nodded with a smile.

"I'm glad to meet you Suisen." He said before looking at the boy expectantly.

"I'm Bonito." He said and Ichigo smiled. That meant pretty or cute, and it suited him. These two were both very cute. "Not gonna eat us?" The boy said with wide, expressive eyes. Ichigo opened his arms, offering to let the children cuddle. There was a brief hesitation before they both latched onto him, hiding their faces in his clothes and shivering. He cradled them close, deeply touched by the sight and smell of the helpless little children.

"We're not going to eat you. This is my brother Shiro and this is our mate, Grimmjow." He introduced the others as the children peeked up. "Let's get you to our den." Los Noches was really coming together now and they had a very good suite of rooms. Both the cubs nodded vigorously. They didn't understand much that was going on but they wanted to be safe in a den. Ichigo tried to carry them both but it was a bit awkward. They weren't little babies and they were definitely on the heavy side.

"Ah… pass one over to me." Grimmjow said abruptly and Ichigo frowned as he felt the children shiver. They thought he was safe but they weren't sure of anyone else, yet. "If I'm going to be looking after the brats I might as well get used to it."

"Hm, okay. Are you alright with that Bonito?" He said to the boy who nodded hesitantly. With that permission Ichigo passed him over and Grimmjow carried him with the ease of long practice. The little boy snuggled up, clearly trying to bond to his new 'parent'. Ichigo smiled to himself at the thought. Bonding went both ways and despite his words about not adopting them, he was pretty sure Grimmjow would soon be very protective of the little ones.

"They are pretty damned cute. Wonder what their mami and papi think of this?" Shiro said in an undertone and Ichigo sighed before replying quietly.

"I doubt they were given much choice." Really, they were lucky Grimmjow was already part of Aizen's forces. It gave the shinigami a convenient place to dump any other hostages. "I hope he doesn't find any others with cubs." He probably wouldn't though. Hollows didn't reproduce that often, it was pure luck that they'd seeded Grimmjow so quickly. Shiro nodded.

"If he does things are gonna get a little crazy." Shiro predicted and Ichigo nodded. If Aizen wanted them to take care of multiple litters, they would, but it really was asking for trouble. The litters would fight and Grimmjow's pups would absolutely be in danger after they were born. With hollows having litters back to back was very rare. Vasto lorde usually weren't that fertile. Shiro was a bit of an exception, mainly because he was so young. When a natural born hollow first reached adulthood they experienced a fertile time, along with the need to mate.

"I'm hungry." Suisen said shyly as they reached their quarters and Ichigo frowned. Would the reishi pills they were using work for the babies? They would have to try. He created one and offered it to her. "Don't like those, they hurt pretty bad. You don't have a kill?" She asked and Ichigo bit his lip.

"Not right now, but you can take some of my reiatsu instead." He offered before creating a ball in his hand. It was a much deeper drain on his strength than a reishi pill but he knew it would 'taste' better. The little hollow devoured it eagerly and Shiro made a similar ball for her brother. He took it just as quickly as his sister and Ichigo wondered when they'd been fed last.

"Hey Ichi, we should go talk to Aizen about getting some time off to hunt for 'em." Shiro suddenly sounded enthusiastic and Ichigo knew why. He was getting a bit worn out by Aizen's demands on his strength. It would be a relief to him, hunting down some adjuchas for the children.

"Yes, we should." He agreed. "We – huh?" There was a knock at the door. Flicking out his reiatsu he detected an Espada level power. Frowning, he went to answer the door. When he opened it there was a female hollow there, wearing a generic uniform and smiling tentatively.

"MAMI!" Ichigo didn't get a chance to say anything before two little bullets flew past him and fixed to the arrancar's legs. Her smile widened with genuine pleasure and she knelt down to hug them both.

"Babies!" She said, gently squeezing them and Ichigo stepped back with a smile. He could see the resemblance. Her hair was green and the remains of her mask looked like a goat with curling horns. "How are you?" She checked them over, clearly looking for any injuries and was relieved to find they were fine. "Oh sweeties…" They cuddled for a moment until Shiro cleared his throat.

"I'm guessing you're the new Quinta? I'm the Cero, Shiro Vuurenijs." He introduced himself as she looked up. She stood up again, gently patting the children before she responded.

"I'm Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck." She said with a smile and Shiro looked a bit daunted at the last name. "Please, call me Nel."

"Pleased to meet you Nel. I'm Ichigo Kurosaki and this is Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez." Ichigo introduced himself. After discovering that Zangetsu was the name of his sword, he'd decided a name change was in order. Gin had come up with Kurosaki and he'd gone with it mainly because it sounded nice. Grimmjow grunted from where he was sitting on the couch, giving the woman a suspicious gaze. It was probably a territorial thing, Grimmjow was in the midst of nesting. "Ah, is their sire here as well?" He asked as tactfully as he could. There was a chance the sire was dead. Nel paused a moment before giving him a small, sad smile.

"He is here but when his mask was broken, I believed his primary personality changed." She said quietly and Ichigo winced as Shiro grimaced. With a vasto lorde that couldn't happen, but with an adjuchas it was certainly possible. Their soul collections were still pliable and it was possible for the primary soul to be displaced completely, or the influences to shift. Often a primary personality was made up of several souls, and the one in ascendance could change. "He still remembers them but he's… different." She sounded reserved and Ichigo nodded sympathetically. He had the feeling she wasn't happy at all about the change in her mate. "Please be careful. I fear he might be a danger to the pups."

"Papi wouldn't hurt us!" Bonito exclaimed and Nel winced before smiling down at him. "Papi's smart and strong!"

"Not as strong as mami." Suisen said and Nel laughed, stroking the bone on her hand and running her fingers through silky pink hair.

"No, not as strong as mami. Are you two hungry?" She asked and they both shook their heads.

"Shiro and Ichigo fed us. Mami, can we come with you? We miss you." Bonito said, his green eyes wide and soulful. Nel shook her head before kneeling to cuddle them again.

"I'm sorry Bonito, but mami has to hunt for Aizen-sama. You'll be safe here with Grimmjow-san. Just be good and don't hurt his new litter, okay?" She said and both of the children nodded solemnly. "Please take good care of them." She said to the blue arrancar who scowled before replying gruffly.

"I said I would. They'll be fine." He said and Ichigo could tell that Nel wasn't too reassured. Neither were the cubs, from the way they clung to her. Shiro scowled and slipped up behind Grimmjow before slapping him upside the head. "Ow! What the hell?!"

"Say it like you mean it, fucker." He advised and Grimmjow scowled, rubbing his head. Then he looked at Nel again.

"Oh, fine. As long as they don't hurt my new litter I'll treat them like they're my own." He said gruffly and Ichigo smiled at him. That was a huge concession and he was sure Grimmjow would keep his word. That helped and Nel managed a real smile.

"That's all I can ask. Do you want me to hunt for you?" She asked and Ichigo and Shiro exchanged a glance. "Aizen has given me some time off my duties to provide for them."

"Oi! That fucker." Shiro snarled and Nel looked at him, surprised. "Sorry, I just wanted some time off my duties for that." He whined and Nel blinked before laughing. "Yeah, sure, Ichi and I could use some food." Reishi pills would help replenish their energy but after feeding two hungry children a real kill would be welcome. "We fed 'em on our reiatsu." He explained as Nel looked puzzled. She nodded with a smile.

"I'll get you something then. Both of you be good!" She hugged her children one last time before leaving the room. Shiro had to go tend to his duties and Ichigo needed to go practice with Gin. The shinigami were trying to get him up to speed very, very quickly. Later Aizen would be tutoring him with kido. It was all quite exhausting.

Everyone cleared out, leaving Grimmjow with the two children. He stared at them for a moment before sighing to himself. It had been a long time since he'd had pups but he remembered how it went. These two were too young for training but plenty old enough for some energetic play.

"Who wants to play catch me?" He suggested and the pups both looked confused. "I'll show you how." It wasn't much of a game, really. Just a challenge for the pups, to catch him as he ran around. Cubs always enjoyed that sort of thing. Sure enough, soon he had Bonito and Suisen chasing around the room with loud giggles. Suisen finally caught him by jumping onto the sofa and using it to launch herself at him. Grimmjow laughed as he caught the little pup before she could fall off. "Very good! Now we get to catch you." And the game began again, this time with Suisen leading the chase. Grimmjow let Bonito catch her, smiling as the pups wrestled on the ground.

They weren't his but they really were very nice pups.

* * *

"Your talent for healing kido is remarkable." Aizen said, watching as Ichigo mended the wounds of a young arrancar. The fellow had been hurt practicing and instead of getting the arrancar medics to tend to it, he was being used to help train Ichigo.

"I already knew how." Ichigo said absently as he felt the connection coming to a natural end. "Papi taught me." Healing was much the same for shinigami and hollows, it seemed. A lot of hollows had some natural healing ability, like saliva or vomit, but Vandular didn't have that. He used his reiatsu instead and the way he did it was identical to what Aizen had been teaching him.

"I see. I wish I had your foster father in my forces. It's a shame he fled from me." Aizen said casually and Ichigo wanted to bristle. His papi, run away? But he had. They knew that from Szayel. Nel's mate had given a description of the hollow who had warned him and there couldn't be two dragons in the mountains.

"He must have decided fighting you wasn't worth the risk to himself." He said instead, which was likely true. Van could be very practical and Ichigo was fairly sure that Aizen was his match in power. "Are we going to practice more kido?" He was learning so much from the rogue shinigami. Vandular had taught him to focus and control the power inside himself, using it to make something like a cero. He'd also taught him a set of skills he called 'spirit magic'. Aizen had been almost impressed when Ichigo had demonstrated them. They included a few things shinigami couldn't do at all, like a spell that enhanced his hearing and a very odd one that let him throw his voice to someone he knew was there, no matter how far away they were. Ichigo smiled as he remembered that. He'd nearly given Gin a heart attack. Only the fact that he'd done it on Aizen's orders had spared him from Shinso.

Real shinigami spells, though, could do so much more. Instead of blasting out raw power he could harness it to a variety of effects. And Vandular's lessons in mental discipline had prepared him well. He was learning very quickly and Aizen was pleased with his efforts.

"I have a mission for you and the Cero." Aizen said and Ichigo was immediately on guard. Both of them? It would have to be something very dangerous. "There is one particular shinigami I want you to eliminate. Gin will lead you to him." He said with a smile. "Report to him, Kurosaki."

"Yes, Aizen-sama." He bowed slightly before going to find the fox faced man. When he did, Gin was talking to a skeptical looking Shiro.

"It ain't that he's so powerful, it's – oh hai there Ichi-chan!" Gin said with a smile and Ichigo grimaced. He hated it when Gin called him that. "You and Shiro-chan have a mission in the Seireitei."

"Yeah, and how the fuck am I supposed to get in there anyway?" Shiro demanded, which was an excellent question. He was an arrancar and his hollow reiatsu was quite powerful. Gin smiled and brought out a small cube. It was very odd looking, shifting with gold and silver strands.

"Remember those tests ya went through with Szayel?" They both exchanged a glance. Szayel was Nel's former mate and from what she said, he'd changed beyond all recognition, becoming obsessed with things she didn't understand. Ichigo and Shiro didn't really understand them either but they knew Aizen valued his talents. That was all that had kept the arrancar alive after he'd come to their rooms to see the children and managed to scare them into hiding behind Grimmjow. "It's kinda funny, but because you're natural born and got a shinigami brother, he's come up with this l'il thing to disguise your reiatsu, make ya feel shinigami. You're the only one it'll ever work on though." He bounced the cube in his hand with that familiar smile. "Want to test it out?"

"Do I have a choice?" Shiro groused and Gin laughed, shaking his head. "Didn't think so. Pass the fucking thing over." Shiro frowned, looking at the cube for a moment before finding the mental 'key'. Ichigo blinked as the feeling of his power changed, becoming very close to his own. Gin considered them both thoughtfully.

"You both feel a l'il hollow but not so much that anyone'd notice. They'd think you've jus' been fighting hollows recently." He said and Ichigo nodded. His reiatsu seemed to have a permanent hollow note and Shiro's was mimicking his, so he had the same scent. "Now, the man ya gotta kill is a prince. He's got special abilities and I'm not sure how Aizen thinks ya can get him, but he's pretty sure." Gin said with a smile and they exchanged a glance. Special abilities? Joy. "I'll sneak ya in. Just be quiet."

"Okay." Resigned and unhappy, they followed the fox as he made a garganta. Soon they were using a special tunnel to slip into Soul Society. Ichigo wondered uneasily if this would be only the first assassination Aizen expected them to perform. Honestly, it was something they were well equipped to do, both physically and mentally. The way they had killed hollows had always resembled an assassination more than anything. He and Shiro had strived to kill quickly and cleanly, without unnecessary suffering.

That was how they approached this. When Gin got them in position they pounced, intending to take the man by surprise. It almost worked. Shiro got in a very nasty hit before golden light radiated from the man. It forced the natural born hollow back, shielding his eyes from the radiance and reeling as he fought to control himself. But it didn't destroy him, which was what should have happened. Any true hollow would have been annihilated, but as a natural born his soul was almost pure.

Ichigo's reaction was quite different. A matching radiance filled the air and the prince gaped in surprise as the young shinigami closed in for the kill. And as the two powers clashed, Shiro was able to force away the pain and join his brother in the attack. The man tried to shout for help, realizing that he was outmatched. But it was far too late. He'd put too much trust in his powers, never expecting them to be neutralized and it was Shiro's blade that made the kill, sliding neatly through his heart. Golden power flared then died, leaving behind nothing but rapidly cooling flesh. There was a soft sound of a footstep and Shiro and Ichigo both looked to see Gin. The shinigami's eyes were open and there wasn't a hint of a smile on his face.

"So that's who ya are. And Aizen guessed." Gin's voice was cold and his gaze was fixed on Ichigo's face. Shiro scowled, taking a step towards him and not so accidentally putting himself between the shinigami and his brother. Blue eyes met black and gold for a moment before Gin closed his eyes and forced a smile on his face. It felt like an act, though. "Well! That was impressive. But we better get back 'fore someone comes lookin' for him."

"Right." Shiro cleaned off his sword as Ichigo set Zangetsu on his back. They both followed Gin, mindful of the fact that they were still in enemy territory. If it weren't for that they would be peppering the fox-faced man with questions. Shiro glanced at Ichigo and met brown eyes as his brother glanced at him. 'That's who you are.' What did that mean? Did Gin know Ichigo's real identity, and why someone would want to kill him as only an infant?

They would have to wait and see.


	6. Chapter 6

The next few weeks went a bit oddly. Despite everything they tried, Ichigo and Shiro couldn't get any answers out of Gin or Aizen. Ichigo's parentage remained a mystery although the fact that Aizen knew the truth bothered them both. Gin treated the young man a bit coldly at first, until Shiro snapped at him.

"Ya know, we didn't ask to be born! Stop bein' so fucking mean." He said after Gin gave Ichigo a really good ass kicking in the practice ring. His brother was reeling with exhaustion, bruised and cut up in places. Gin just gave him that familiar, foxy smile.

"Mean? He needs ta get stronger or he's never gonna survive." Gin said mockingly and Shiro clenched his teeth. That was true but…

"That's not why you're doin' it. What the hell is your problem?" He said as he helped Ichigo sit down and got him some water. Now that he was surviving on reishi pills the young shinigami did need water. Apparently, something about eating adjuchas kills had suppressed that desire. Fortunately the arrancar still didn't need to drink so the water supply wasn't too much of a problem.

"Tell me, Shiro-chan. Would you say being natural born makes you better than, say, Grimmjow?" Gin asked and Shiro blinked at him, startled. Then he frowned.

"…Depends what you mean by better." He said warily and Gin just kept smiling at him. "I mean, even if Aizen hadn't fucked with me my full potential might have been higher than his and I would definitely have reached it sooner. But he had to come up the hard way, just like my papi, and maybe in a few thousand years Grimm would be a great old one. Who knows?" Shiro ran a hand through his hair, thinking about it. He'd never really considered anything like this before. "Natural born vasto lorde… we have things easier. Natural born adjuchas actually have it harder than evolved ones, since they get kicked off the nest when they're still young, but vasto lorde are more like shinigami. We raise our little ones. Does that make me _better_? I dunno… but I started out with advantages almost no one gets."

"Those advantages don't guarantee anything though. Van's had four children other than us and only two of them are alive." Ichigo added and Gin glanced at him. His eyes were still closed and his smile was still in place.

"And what would you say, Ichigo, if I told you that your bloodline could make you stronger than Shiro-chan?" Gin asked and Ichigo frowned. "That your blood is superior to any other?" It was hard to read the fox, but it sounded like that angered him. Ichigo's frown deepened.

"I'd say I'm glad my blood made me strong enough for Vandular to raise." Ichigo said as calmly as he could. "If I'd been weak, he would have fed me to Shiro." That was just the way things went in Hueco Mundo. Gin actually opened his eyes in surprise for a moment.

"I thought your sire had a weakness for cute, helpless things?" He asked and Ichigo grimaced as Shiro laughed.

"Yeah, but cute wears off ya know. Ah… if papi had gotten attached but he knew Ichi was too weak for Hueco Mundo, he'd probably have taken him to Soul Society and dumped him off somewhere." Shiro said with a shrug. "'Course then he probably would've died but what can you do?" That would be like an adjuchas throwing a young cub out of the den. The odds of Ichigo surviving would have been poor, at best. Gin nodded.

"Most orphans in the Rukongai don't make it." He murmured, looking thoughtful for a moment. "Well, I have t' go hard on you Ichi-chan. But I guess Shiro's right, it ain't your fault. I'll be… nicer, hey?" Gin sounded like that amused him. "Go see Tosen and work on your kido." He advised and Ichigo nodded, pulling himself to his feet with a wince. Shiro made him pause for a moment and gave him a healing infusion before he left. That eased the worst of the pain and he went to his second lesson.

Later on, he discussed it with Grimmjow and Shiro. To his surprise, Grimmjow had some very valuable input.

"I used the same kind of power as that prince. You don't think I could be a prince, do you?" Ichigo said worriedly and Shiro snorted at the thought.

"Oh, come on! Why would a prince be running from assassins in Hueco Mundo?" Shiro challenged and Grimmjow snorted. They both looked at him and the cat gave them a grim smile.

"Because he's a prince." He said and Shiro blinked as Ichigo looked lost. "Clueless, the both of you. Must be because you don't know shit about anything but Hueco Mundo. Look, being noble is great in a lot of ways. You get food, you get tutors, you get all kinds of shit that regular people don't get. But in return you get people who want what you got and they will fucking well take it. Kind of like being a hollow really." He added thoughtfully and they exchanged a glance. "A prince who's an inconvenience to someone else… especially a helpless little baby? Hell yes, someone could try to murder you." Grimmjow shrugged and Ichigo bit his lip. "It happens."

"…Lovely." Shiro said sourly before sitting down beside his brother on the couch. "So Ichi might be some kind of lost prince. Does this mean anything to us?"

"Nah." Was Grimmjow's opinion. "Except that we can't trust Aizen even more." He added and Ichigo laughed. "And we don't want anyone in Soul Society to know. Aizen's a renegade, does he really give a shit beyond using us? But the rest of the shinigami might care and there's no way to know what they'll do." Ichigo nodded as Shiro sighed. They both remembered their father's story, the dying shinigami trying so hard to save his pup.

"Grimm-papi! Look what I made!" Bonito ran over holding some carved pieces of bone. Hollow parents always provided toys for their children, usually in the form of interesting bits and pieces taken from kills. Grimmjow had spent time with the children carving the bones into interesting shapes, and now they were using them to build things. He took the little creation with a smile.

"It's beautiful cub. What is it?" He really had no idea although it was interesting. Two of the bone sticks were shoved into a much larger one, sticking out from the body.

"It's the dragon hollow!" Bonito said excitedly. Shiro laughed as Ichigo smiled. That was incredibly cute.

"Looks just like him. We should keep it in case we can show it to him someday." He said, gently teasing the pup. He was sure Vandular would laugh and keep the little thing in his den. But Bonito shook his head.

"No, I'm going to make a better one!" He proclaimed and Grimmjow handed back the bone sticks. "I want to make it fly! I saw him fly away. I'll fly like that someday!" He said firmly and the arrancar and shinigami all had their doubts. Vandular's wings were meant for speed and he had absolute mastery over them. The pups' butterfly wings were more meant for hovering and quick, darting movements. It was a very different form of flight although no better or worse than Van's. Of course, it was unlikely that Bonito would ever equal Vandular's sonido. Still, they wouldn't tell the pup that and Grimmjow smiled, patting him on the head.

"You'll be an amazing flier Bonito." He said and Shiro made a slightly wistful face. He still wished he'd been born with wings. He envied the children that.

"Well, let's all get to bed. We got some catching up to do." He said, standing up. Bonito and Suisen could easily keep themselves entertained and they knew the sounds and scents of intimacy. Like many parents, theirs had created a smaller cavern off the main den to have alone time and the children were taught not to interrupt unless it was a matter of life and death. They would follow that routine now.

"Don't think you're putting me on my back." Ichigo growled and Grimmjow sneered, adjusting his yukata slightly. He was definitely starting to show, not surprising since there were four sparks of reiatsu in his abdomen.

"Hiding behind your brother's shadow, shinigami?" He taunted and Ichigo glared. Shiro laughed, leaning against the wall.

"Try using that golden thing again." He said and that was a mistake. Ichigo frowned and concentrated hard. Grimmjow howled in pain and jerked back as the radiance flowed through the room. "Holy shit! Stop!" The light cut off and Shiro and Ichigo were both by Grimmjow's side instantly. The arrancar was on his hands and knees, panting and making small, pained whimpers. Bonito and Suisen were both hiding, their toys forgotten.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Ichigo whispered, cradling the panther and trying to give him a healing infusion. But this was no normal wound. They couldn't know, but the golden light he had emitted had found the tainted souls inside Grimmjow's soul collection and tried to pry him apart from within. The result had been agonizing pain. Grimmjow slumped against them, taking deep, uneven breaths.

"…S'okay. The fuck… was that?" He managed to say, his voice a pained rasp. Shiro grimaced.

"It was that shit the prince tried to use on us. Damn. It hurt me a bit, but nothing like that." He said, truly concerned for his mate. A quick check of his reiatsu showed that the sparks in his belly seemed to be unharmed and Grimmjow himself had taken no real damage. "Let's get you to bed." Lust was quickly taking a backseat to concern and Ichigo nodded. But Grimmjow growled.

"Fuck that!" He straightened a bit, still a little pained but quickly recovering. "I want to fuck and I don't care if I'm on my back or not. Let's do this." He said decisively and Ichigo blinked as Shiro grinned.

"Well, if that's what you want…" He said before nipping his mate's neck playfully. Ichigo's hands strayed under Grimmjow's yukata, finding his limp member and giving him slow, gentle strokes. "You kids okay?" Shiro pulled back a moment to ask. Bonito and Suisen were peeking out from under the couch.

"We're okay. That was scary!" Bonito said and Suisen made a sound of agreement.

"We'll be okay. You go feed the pups." Suisen said and Shiro laughed before gently tugging Grimmjow towards the bedroom. The cubs were right, what they were about to do would feed reiatsu into the growing lives. That wasn't why they were doing it, though. That could be more efficiently done with a straight infusion. No, what they wanted was pleasure and it would be very pleasurable indeed.

"I want to try something new." Ichigo said as they made their way to the bed. Shiro and Grimm both looked at him curiously. "I, um, found some picture books that Gin had. Don't tell him, please. But this looked kind of interesting." He said and that got them both interested.

"Yeah? What does this involve?" Grimmjow asked, intrigued, as he shed his yukata. Shiro went to work removing his uniform. He favored a very simple style, just a vest and full pants. Ichigo's style was a bit more ornate, a full jacket that was similar to Gin's. Ichigo smiled as he slipped into the bed beside Grimm, running a hand over his belly. There was no hollow hole now, which was normal for any pregnancy.

"Get on your hands and knees and I'll show you." He said, his voice full of promises. Grimmjow curled his lip a little at the thought but obeyed when Shiro yanked on his hair. "Don't worry, you'll like it." He promised before gently parting those beautiful buttcheeks. Grimmjow had a wonderful ass, firm and tight. He gently explored it with his tongue, remembering what the book had shown him. He circled the area, swiping his tongue over it before dipping inside, getting past that tight ring of muscle. Grimmjow was making soft growls of arousal.

"Woah. Papi never mentioned anything like that." Shiro sounded awed and Ichigo paused in his efforts to grin at him.

"Papi might not have known everything." He said before going back to his task. Vandular had given them plenty of education about the sexual side of things, including some rather interesting things that he'd illustrated using his claws and some stones. But he hadn't included this. Maybe he just didn't know about it or maybe he didn't like it for some reason. Grimmjow panted for a moment before speaking.

"If… he remembers… he'd think it's dirty…" He managed to say and Ichigo couldn't figure that out. Dirty? But he was too turned on to do this forever and he glanced at Shiro, who nodded. Permission given Ichigo pulled away then mounted their mate, sliding into him smoothly. "Shit!" Grimmjow tensed and tossed his head back, groaning in pleasure as he was filled by a hard, thick cock. "Oh fuck… harder…" He pleaded and Ichigo gladly obliged, claiming his mate with a slow but powerful rhythm. He nipped Grimmjow's neck and sucked on his shoulder, vaguely aware of Shiro moving behind him. But he didn't think anything of it… until white fingers touched his own ass. That made him freeze and Grimmjow whimper.

"Shiro, what are you doing?" He said calmly before thrusting shallowly into his waiting mate. There was a wicked laugh behind him and Ichigo gasped as something cold and wet was inserted into his sphincter.

"What d'you think, Ichi-chan?" Shiro whispered in his ear and Ichigo groaned as well lubed fingers sought out his prostate. He couldn't control himself then and began to move against Grimmjow more urgently, savoring the feeling of being inside their mate and penetrated at the same time. Velvety walls seemed determined to smother him as Grimmjow rocked with the force of his thrusts. The cat glanced back at him, his blue eyes wide and Ichigo kissed the bone on his cheek, running his tongue over the hard, cold surface.

"Nnn…. Shiro!" Ichigo's eyes went wide as something much better and hotter than fingers began wedging itself into his ass. He wasn't ready for that, hadn't expected anything like it and he gasped as Shiro seated himself. "Oh… my god…" He knew this was wrong. They were brothers, they had been raised together… but somehow, he just couldn't bring himself to care. His brother was fucking him as he fucked Grimmjow and nothing in the world could feel better.

"Holy shit." Grimmjow sounded like he might lose his load right there and Ichigo gasped as Shiro set the pace, driving him into the man beneath him. That beautiful warmth, the hot, heavy length inside him were all conspiring to drive him towards orgasm. Ichigo reached beneath Grimm to stroke his cock, squeezing and pumping the hard flesh in time with their thrusts. Shiro's hands were busy too, finding his nipples and tweaking them as the powerful vasto lorde rode him, filling him nearly painfully.

"Ya feel so good Ichigo." Shiro sounded blissful, speeding his thrusts and making Ichigo move faster. Grimmjow was whimpering almost continuously now, his cock dripping small trails of pearly cum. Ichigo used it to dampen his hand, making his pumps smooth and frictionless. "Shoulda done this ages ago." He moaned and Ichigo gasped as he felt Grimmjow's walls fluttering around him. He could tell the cat was getting close.

"Let him cum… Shiro…?" He asked before groaning as Grimmjow tightened around him with a growl. He did not want to be denied his release. There was a breathy laugh behind him.

"Sure, let him cum. We can always make him cum again." Shiro said and Ichigo nodded, devoting himself to his partner's body. A good hard bite on his shoulder and a squeeze of his hand, coupled with a particularly harsh hit on his prostate took Grimmjow over the edge. Tight muscles clamped down on him and Ichigo gasped, his eyes going wide as Shiro took him harder for a moment. Then his own release came and he cried out in pleasure, hearing a matching sound from Shiro. They even sounded alike now, although Shiro's voice was a dark and distorted echo of his own.

The mutual moment of pleasure came and went. They all came down from their instinctive high and Shiro slowly pulled away, leaving Ichigo panting. He pulled away from Grimmjow who slumped onto the sheets, his eyes heavy and his hair damp with sweat. Ichigo lay on his side, panting softly as Shiro spread out, taking up far too much of the bed. But they were all too exhausted to complain.

"Mmm… that was great. But I don't even want to think about what papi would say." Ichigo said drowsily and Shiro snorted.

"Ah, fuck papi! Who cares about what he'd say? We're grown ass adults!" Shiro said arrogantly and Ichigo sighed to himself before laughing.

"Okay, forget about what he'd say. What would he do? And what would mami do?" He said and that quieted his brother for a moment. It was a daunting prospect. Then Shiro shrugged.

"So we don't tell them, ever." He said and Ichigo nodded. That sounded like a good plan to him. Grimmjow was already asleep and clearly didn't care a bit about their parental worries. "Aw, so cute… let's curl up Ichi."

"Right." They both moved their exhausted bodies, curling up around Grimmjow and pulling a blanket over him. They had blankets now, but they would still use their body heat to keep their mate warm.

It was the right thing to do.

* * *

"It's okay Grimm-papi, it really is!" Shiro frowned as he heard that piping voice, pushing open the door to his quarters.

"No, it's not!" Grimmjow sounded distraught and his frown deepened as he walked into the room. "Shiro is… uh." He stopped dead as he saw him. Shiro tilted his head, looking his mate over. He was… oh. There were only two sparks in his abdomen. Yesterday morning there had been four. "I'm sorry." Grimmjow said, almost choking on the words and Shiro grimaced. He knew how proud the cat was but he clearly thought this was his fault.

"For what?" He countered and Grimmjow bit his lip. "For losing two of the litter? You're a vasto lorde Grimm. You're only supposed to have two at most." He stepped up to his mate and hugged him, feeling the resistance that quickly melted as Grimmjow nuzzled his neck. "You thought I would be mad? Shit, I'll be glad if you have two. Twins ain't that common." If they were lucky, these two sparks would make it. Odds were that one of them would fail, though. If they were very unlucky they both might fail. Vasto lorde pregnancies weren't easy. Grimmjow pulled back, looking at him searchingly for a moment before sagging a bit in relief.

"…Thanks. I was afraid you'd freak out." The grim way he said it made Shiro certain that someone had freaked out on him in the past. That was pointlessly stupid even for an adjuchas, though. When eggs failed it was largely fate, some kind of weakness or imbalance in the egg, nothing the dam could control. Or sometimes it was malnourishment but in that case it was the sire's fault for not bringing enough kills home.

"See? We told you it would be fine Grimm-papi!" Suisen said brightly and Shiro laughed, reaching down to pat her on the head.

"Yeah, always listen to the kid, she knows what's what." He advised and Grimmjow growled before shrugging. "Where's Bonito?" The boy didn't seem to be here. Grimmjow frowned darkly.

"That fucker Szayel wanted to run some tests on one of them and Tosen said we have to. But the shinigami is going to supervise." He didn't sound pleased and Shiro wasn't either. Although Bonito would come back to them in one piece. Tosen would see to that. The shinigami didn't approve of people hurting innocent children.

"Papi is scary." Suisen said tearfully and Shiro knelt so she could hug him. He cradled her in his arms, feeling the little one trembling. Their faith in their father had evaporated very, very quickly after meeting the arrancar version. Nel and Szayel were officially not mated any longer and Shiro felt bad for all of them, even Szayel. It wasn't his fault his mind had been all fucked up by Aizen's cube. He was still a danger to the cubs, though. "Mami says that papi isn't really papi anymore."

"Mami's right." Shiro said, giving her a squeeze before letting go. "Your real papi's not there anymore. But you have all of us and your mami, so don't worry about it." Nel came by every time her duties permitted it. She was still a very doting parent. "Hey Grimm, where's Ichi?"

"Off looking for strong hollows and trying to keep that dipshit Nnoitra on a leash." Grimmjow said and Shiro grimaced. Nnoitra was a problem. He was one of the newest Espada and he seemed to find Nel particularly offensive, for some reason. He also liked to kill things completely at random and that simply wouldn't do. They needed living arrancar, not dead hollows. "What the fuck is that guys' problem? He seems as fucked in the head as Szayel."

"I dunno, but I met him before his mask was cracked. He was nuts then too." Szayel had changed but Nnoitra had always been a dick, in Shiro's opinion anyway. "Nevermind that. Who wants to play?" He asked Suisen. The little girl squealed happily.

"Catch me! Catch me Shiro-papi!" She fluttered into the air and Shiro laughed, jumping after her with deliberate slowness. Her movements in the air were very clumsy, not at all close to the grace she would one day own. But they were still beautiful.

They were all very relieved when Tosen brought back a dazed and confused little Bonito. Grimmjow immediately settled him to bed and Suisen joined him, curling up around him. That gave them some time to themselves and Shiro grinned as he pulled Grimmjow toward their bedroom.

He was going to prove to his mate that he didn't mind losing two of the litter.

* * *

"Ichigo."

"Yes? What is it?" He asked, surprised by the deadly expression on Shiro's face. He'd been out on a mission and just gotten back. What could his brother be ticked off about? Shiro just looked at him for a long moment before putting an arm around his shoulders. "Um…" This was quite unsettling, especially when Shiro was giving him that narrow eyed look that promised pain.

"I want you to come see something." He said evenly and Ichigo took a deep breath, reminding himself that he hadn't done anything wrong. "C'mon." Shiro pulled him along and Ichigo went, wondering what this was. What could his brother possibly be mad about?

"Grimmjow gave birth?!" Ichigo blurted as they went to the medical wing. Shiro gave him an unsettling smile. "Why didn't you just say that, you asshole?" Why was his brother getting all mysterious about Grimmjow birthing his litter? Although it was only one cub, now. The second spark had failed, leaving only a singleton.

"I told ya, there's something I want you to see." Shiro said mildly but with that deadly gleam in his eyes. Ichigo scowled at him, but kept going. He wanted to see Grimmjow's and Shiro's….

That thought completely derailed as he got a good look at the scene in front of him. Grimmjow was curled up in a bed, his lean, muscular body curled around his tiny offspring. The baby looked to be a boy. His skin was the same shade as Grimmjow's and his eyes were closed, the color unknown for now. But his hair was a brilliant orange. Ichigo gaped for a moment before there was a sudden pain in his head.

"OW! Shiro!" His brother had just slapped him upside the head and he flinched away. "It's not my fault!" He said defensively as Shiro glared at him through slit eyes. "I didn't even know I could do that." And he was truly amazed. Vandular had thought that he would need to go find a shinigami mate if he ever wanted children. The old hollow had never guessed that he could be fertile with vasto lorde, despite the similarities. Shiro's glare suddenly turned into a grin.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I just wanted to see ya sweat." He said lightly and Ichigo felt a great relief. He'd been afraid that his brother was really angry with him over this. "Aizen's waaaay too interested in this." He said sourly and Ichigo winced. That wasn't good news. It was expected, though. Even if the child had been normal he'd have been interested, but now that he knew the baby was Ichigo's offspring, well…

"Can I hold him?" He asked, gazing at the infant longingly. His own child, and he'd made the boy with Grimmjow, not some not-even-met shinigami. It was wonderful. Shiro laughed, patting him on the back.

"You can try!" He said cheerfully and Ichigo frowned before reaching down and picking up the little one. Or rather, trying to. Grimmjow came out of his sleep with a wicked hiss and slapped his hands away. Ichigo winced at the stinging pain and growled at his beta. Grimmjow growled right back, his blue eyes feral and wild. "Yeah, he's super protective. We really need to get him back in the nest." Shiro sounded amused but also concerned under it and Ichigo nodded. Grimmjow's intellect was taking a backseat to his instincts and that wasn't a good thing.

"Where are Suisen and Bonito? Maybe they can help." He said after a moment and Shiro looked startled. But maybe the two little ones could coax him into going back to the den with them.

"They're back in our rooms. I'll go get 'em." He said and Ichigo just stayed put, trying to reach out and touch the babies' hair. But whenever he got close Grimmjow started to growl and he pulled his hand back with a sigh. This was very inconvenient and probably happening because Grimmjow didn't trust Szayel or anyone in the medical ward.

Everything worked out perfectly. The two children brought a bit of reason back to Grimmjow and they were finally able to coax him out of the medical ward. When they got the cat back to their own rooms he immediately relaxed. Ichigo could understand that perfectly. Normally a hollow 'mother' would give birth in the den and not stray out of it for weeks, months or even years.

"Sorry. Hey, how did this happen?" Grimmjow gazed down at his offspring as if noticing for the first time that he had orange hair. Shiro snorted as Ichigo smiled. He'd been so high on instincts, that was likely the case.

"Dunno. But I know what we should name him." Shiro said, gently touching the orange curls. The little baby opened his eyes and they were a vibrant, beautiful blue. "Tigre. It's perfect for him."

"Tigre." Grimmjow tasted the name before looking at him questioningly. "You like it?" He asked and Ichigo repeated it before nodding.

"It's perfect. Tigre." Their first child, and it was his. Ichigo smiled to himself as he watched Bonito and Suisen cluster around, oohing and aahing over the little pup. There was no sign of jealousy yet and he was thankful for that.

This wasn't a normal situation but they could only make the best of it.


	7. Chapter 7

Grimmjow glared at the woman standing in the doorway of his nest. She stared back at him with wholly appropriate fear.

"What is this, the fucking nursery?" He snarled and Tosen just looked at him. Well, as much as the shinigami could given that he couldn't see. "I don't want a pregnant hollow in my den!" This was just too much. He'd already opened his nest to the babies and now they wanted him to take in some nameless numero? "And why does Aizen give a shit about some low level brat?" Grimmjow asked suspiciously. There were so many numeros now that pregnancies were getting more likely, but this was the first time he'd seen one of them knocked up. He'd just assumed they were dealing with it themselves.

"While she is not important, the father of her child has been confirmed by Szayel. It is Yammy." Tosen said calmly and Grimmjow's eyes widened before he gave the girl a sharp look and extended his senses. She felt weak, much weaker than the Tercero Espada. And yet…

"You do know that hollows can't mate too far below their own power?" He asked. That was why Shiro and Ichigo had picked him, because he was very high on the adjuchas scale and had the potential for vasto lorde. Their father would actually need to mate to a vasto lorde, he was too powerful for anything else. "Someone has hidden depths." He examined the girl again, physically this time. She was quite short, but very well built, a pocket venus. Her eyes were a bluish violet, very pretty and her hair was thick and black, falling to her shoulders. It was caught on one side with a silvery clip and she gave him a smile that was marred with tension. "Yammy has pretty good taste." He said idly and sensed her fear spike. "Calm down, my mates wouldn't like it if I strayed. Eh… we don't have much choice, do we?" He said sourly and Tosen shook his head. "Fine, she can stay. But we might need a bigger nest." She could sleep with the kids for now but after her own pup was born, well… Tosen nodded.

"Aizen understands that. We will see what we can do." He said and Grimmjow nodded. One thing Los Noches was not lacking in was space so he wouldn't be surprised if they got a shiny new suite of rooms.

"What's going on Grimm-papi?" Suisen said, coming out of his room with Tigre in her arms. At first he'd kept the pups strictly separate but that had quickly proved unnecessary. Probably because they still had a mother, the two older cubs didn't feel the need to monopolize his attention. They were both fascinated with Tigre and vying to be the one he 'loved best'. "Pup is hungry." She announced and Tigre fussed quietly. Grimmjow smiled, taking the infant as Tosen left the suite. "Who's this?" Suisen asked, noticing the girl. She had her hands clasped in front of herself, looking rather lost.

"She's Yammy's girl." He said shortly, which made the numero wince. Likely she hadn't been given much choice in the matter. "What's your name?" He asked and she answered softly.

"Violetta Kuroikaze." She said and Grimmjow nodded. That was a nice name, especially the black wind part. "Do you mind if I…?" She tentatively moved towards the sofa and he shook his head.

"Hell no, make yourself at home. Looks like you're gonna be living with us." He said with some graciousness. She nodded, taking a seat. "So how powerful are you, anyway? You must be pretty strong to carry Yammy's brat." That was the sole sign of power he had, but she might just be very good at concealing her reiatsu. But the woman shook her head.

"I have no power. I cannot unseal my zanpakuto." She said unhappily and that made Grimmjow stare. He'd never heard of such a thing. An arrancar zanpakuto was a sealing of their powers, releasing it came as easily as breathing. "I don't know how this happened." She looked down and Grimmjow frowned as he sat down across from her, feeding Tigre. His body was producing hollow 'milk', mostly concentrated reiatsu.

"Well, when I'm done here I want to take a look at your zanpakuto." Grimmjow wasn't sure any of the shinigami would have thought of it. They weren't really up on the nuances of hollow reproduction and it likely hadn't occurred to them that Violetta had to be more than she seemed. Also, he had nothing better to do. He was firmly stuck in his nest and happy that way. If this girl was going to be thrust on him, he was going to try to make her an asset to the pack. Violetta nodded before reaching through a slit in her dress, pulling out a full sized sword. He gave her an odd look and she blushed.

"I have a special belt under it." She explained and he grinned, making several dirty jokes about swords under dresses in his mind. "It's sometimes helpful for me, appearing to be unarmed." Her tone was bleak and Grimmjow could imagine why. Her only hope was to take an enemy by surprise.

"Well, you'll be safe here. Put that aside, I'll get to it later." Tigre was still nursing and Grimmjow wasn't afraid of Bonito or Suisen hurting themselves with the zanpakuto. They both had more than sufficient hierro. Well, unless they managed to do something spectacularly dumb, but then the world was better off without them. He was sure it wouldn't happen, they were both smart kids. Violetta carefully rested her zanpakuto in the corner of the room.

Grimmjow had to reevaluate the intelligence of the children, though, as they were both attracted to the shiny thing. Grimacing to himself, he realized he'd never left Pantera out where they could get at it before. Shiro and Ichigo both put their swords in a rack in their rooms, before they got frisky. Bonito had the sword and was trying to swing it, laughing.

"Kids! That is not a toy." He snarled but they didn't listen. Violetta had a 'deer in the headlights' look. "Shit! Get that thing and put it back. They're going to do something stupid." Nel would be upset if he lost one of them, even if it would be an excellent lesson to the other one. Bonito and Suisen both started to tantrum when their new toy was taken away but Grimmjow growled, low and deep. Getting the message they scampered away, finding some older toys to play with. Shiro had shattered a crystal tree and gathered the shards for them, and they started in on those, building something indecipherable. Violetta sat down again and he marveled at how well hidden the sword was. He would never have thought she had one.

Tigre finished his feeding and Grimmjow snuggled his son for a moment, just enjoying the sweet baby scent and the deep pleasure that came with holding his offspring. He'd always loved babies. He'd been the dam once before and he knew how this went. If only it weren't for Aizen, this would all be perfect.

Sighing to himself he carried the sleepy baby over to his nest. It was a mattress on the floor, just like the one in their room but smaller and meant for all three pups. Tigre didn't sleep there much, though. He usually stayed there during the day and when his parents were getting intimate. At night, he slept with them in their bed, usually with Grimmjow curled around him.

"Okay, about that sword." He said after he got the pup settled down and sleeping. Violetta nodded and pulled it out again. Grimmjow took the blade and sat down across from her, letting his senses range over it. "…Huh." It was damned powerful, but it felt completely off. Scowling to himself Grimmjow decided some questioning was in order. "How strong were you before Aizen broke your mask?" He asked and Violetta winced slightly.

"I was an adjuchas, but approaching vasto lorde." She admitted and he frowned, gazing at the blade. "I don't know what happened. It's like all my power vanished." She sounded pained and he could see why. That would have hurt like a bitch, suddenly being rendered almost powerless. "My sword is strong but if I can't use it…" She shrugged helplessly and he nodded, a bit unsatisfied. Most of them were still powerful even when their swords were sealed, but this power just felt strange. Shinigami? Something like it but with a tainted feeling.

"Maybe you should talk to Ichigo later, see if he can teach you some shinigami shit. This blade feels more shinigami to me than anything." He suggested. It would be a lot easier to get Ichigo to pass on his lessons than getting Tosen or Gin involved. And they damned well weren't going to ask Aizen. The less attention they got from their overlord, the better. Violetta nodded although without any particular hope. "So is Yammy going to be paying us visits?" He really didn't want that fuckwit showing up at the nest.

"No, probably not. It was only once." She admitted, reaching up and fiddling with the clip in her hair. Although it wasn't a clip, he noticed. It seemed to actually be part of her hair, fused in. "I'm sure he didn't expect anything to come from it." She said and he nodded. A lot of adjuchas got seeded that way. It was rough and many of them just abandoned the litters, but plenty tried to raise them despite the difficulty.

When Shiro and Ichigo came back he gave them a quick explanation. Ichigo took Violetta to a corner of the room to teach her Jinzen. He thought that was the place to start, letting her learn to reach her zanpakuto. Grimmjow hoped it worked. They really didn't need dead weight around here. Tigre woke with a squall and he grinned before going over to pick up the little one, settling on the couch and positioning the child for another feeding. His hakama and jacket were perfect now, the little one could suckle anytime he wanted.

"You are adorable, you know that?" Grimmjow told the infant who just ate contentedly. "I can't wait until you're older and start running around." Playing with the other kids was nice but he couldn't wait to play with his own offspring. "You'll be a great fighter someday." He promised, smiling. The baby had a good, strong reiatsu. He was sure Tigre would be strong. His smile morphed into a frown as he thought about Aizen, Gin and the uncertain world they were living in. "You'll need to be." He murmured, wishing it wasn't true. But this was Hueco Mundo.

Even if the shinigami vanished tomorrow, his boy would need to be strong.

* * *

Things abruptly went bad just a week later.

Grimmjow wasn't expecting trouble when he went to answer the door. No one was dumb enough to take on Shiro and Ichigo, so who would bother them? And Yammy might get involved too. He wasn't showing much interest in his girl but he might get pissed if his unborn pup suddenly vanished. So starting trouble would be the act of a moron.

It suddenly got more likely, though, when he saw who was on the other side of the door. Szayel and Nnoitra were both there, which put him on guard. Nnoitra was an egotistical moron. He damned well might start something. And Szayel was so fucked in the head it was hard to say what he would do.

"What the fuck do you guys want?" He asked warily and Szayel just smiled at him, fluffing out his pink hair for a moment. That motion was way too girly and not for the first time, Grimmjow wondered how Nel could have mated him.

"I want my children." Szayel said calmly and Grimmjow stiffened. The deal was that the children never went with Szayel unless Tosen was there. The blind shinigami had taken on the responsibility because he felt the hollow children were 'pure', whatever that meant. Suisen and Bonito both liked and trusted him, following the shinigami like little puppies. Right now, Tosen was nowhere to be seen. "There's no longer any need for them, so please hand them over."

"What?" For a moment he didn't understand. Then rage blazed up as he favored Nnoitra with a glare. "What the fuck have you done?" Nel. The children were hostages against Nelliel. If something had happened to her, Szayel might legitimately think the children were his property to do with as he wished. Nnoitra grinned, that familiar, piano grin that made Grimmjow want to shove all his teeth down his throat.

"The bitch is dead." He said casually and Grimmjow growled, his hands falling down to the hilt of his sword. He'd grabbed Pantera before answering the door, it was a habit. Just in case. "Now hand the brats over. It's not like you want the little fuckers." There was a sound from inside, a sniffling. Grimmjow didn't look though. He wasn't going to take his attention off these two for a minute.

"Fuck off." He said pleasantly. "Or I'll shove all your teeth down your throat, you fucking douchebag." He drew Pantera and Nnoitra laughed, readying Santa Teresa. Szayel was frowning slightly, clearly unhappy that his little ploy hadn't worked. He'd thought Grimmjow could be intimidated. Of course, he really didn't know him well.

"Oh, little mommy thinks he can fight?" Nnoitra mocked him and Grimmjow's eyes narrowed. Then he grinned evilly.

"You really are stupid as fuck." He said before unleashing his power. He didn't call on Pantera… he needed these two away from his nest for that. He did blast Nnoitra through a wall before grabbed Szayel by the throat and slamming him through the same wall. The two of them ended up tangled together before he leapt at them.

Nnoitra wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but the real problem he had was his arrogance and prejudices. His contempt for females extended to any male who took the female role, bearing and rearing children. Nnoitra would never submit and so to him, submission was for weaklings. The fact that Grimmjow had only submitted to a vasto lorde, and made that jump himself, had never crossed his mind. So he was honestly surprised when he and Szayel ended up falling out of the tower, an enraged panther right behind.

"Grind, Pantera!" Grimmjow called on his full power. He would need it, facing them both. Nnoitra cursed, taking his released form just in time to avoid getting disembowled by a flying leap. Grimmjow split his attention, tossing bala at a slightly panicked Szayel. He quickly took his released form and tried to snag Grimmjow with his wings, but the panther slashed apart anything that got close to him. He was far too strong for Szayel's powers to be effective.

Grimmjow was fighting against the greatest threats, but that didn't mean the nest was safe. Violetta stood tall and straight, barring the way against the arrancar trying to enter. Tesra stopped, just looking at her for a moment. He was calm and resolute.

"My master told me to take the children. Please step aside." If he had any feeling for the twins, desperately clinging to each other, he didn't show it. Violetta said nothing, drawing her sword. Tesra drew his sword and the blades clashed. Violetta had always been skillful with her sword, but until she'd trained with Ichigo she hadn't been able to use sonido. Now she used shunpo instead and Tesra was surprised to find that they were evenly matched.

"Oi! What's going on – HEY!" Lilynette just barely avoided one of the Grimmjow's diamond shaped, explosive projectiles. It completely demolished the tower she'd just exited. "STARRK WAS SLEEPING IN THERE! What the hell!" She complained. Although Starrk would be just fine after he recovered from the extremely rude awakening. Grimmjow didn't give a fig. He was going to murder Nnoitra. The bastard was already bleeding from a dozen cuts and just barely holding him off despite being in release.

Then their fun was curtailed as Aizen and his shinigami entered the fray. Nnoitra found himself with two swords at his throat as Grimmjow was pinned in place by Aizen. Barragan took care of Szayel, although it didn't take much. The scientist went completely docile as he saw the power arrayed against him.

"What, precisely, is going on here?" Aizen asked calmly as he kept his sword against Grimmjow's neck. "Seal your powers." He commanded and Grimmjow obeyed instantly. He was powerful but he knew better than to take on the force that had beaten Shiro.

"Those douchebags tried to raid my nest!" Grimmjow said, still pissed as hell. "They – huh?" There was another explosion and Tesra fell out of the tower, followed by what looked like rivers of inky blackness. They made a strange buzzing sound as they followed the battered arrancar, intent on devouring him. "The fuck is that?"

"Enough of this! I… uh." Tesra was about to unseal his sword when he noticed that everyone was staring at him. The black was more than willing to take advantage of his distraction but then Gin was there, blocking the attack. The black streamers immediately pulled back, then vanished. Gin looked up and they all saw Violetta standing in the opening of the tower. She was holding her sword and looking stricken that she'd accidentally struck out at the shinigami.

"I have had about enough of this." Aizen said calmly but it was clear his patience was running out. "What happened?" Grimmjow took a breath and gave a quick rundown of what had occurred. "Nelliel is dead?" Aizen didn't sound too upset, just looking at Nnoitra and Szayel. Nnoitra grinned as Szayel looked away. "Hm. Technically, the children are Szayel's to do with as he wishes." That made Grimmjow's temper flare.

"Fuck that! You can't give them to me and expect me to give them to that sick fuck! If Nelliel's gone they're mine!" He snapped and Aizen smiled.

"So you are adopting them?" He asked and Grimmjow didn't hesitate.

"Yes." He said firmly. Sure, they were more hostages against them. But it didn't matter. No one was taking Suisen and Bonito out of his nest. And while he could have just kicked them out into Hueco Mundo, they wouldn't have a hope of survival. They were too young, he hadn't taught them to fight and hunt yet. And that was if Szayel didn't scoop them up, which he certainly would.

"What happened?" A groggy Starrk said, wiping away the stone dust from his face as Lilynette tried to help him. Everyone ignored him, too focused on what was happening. Aizen nodded.

"Very well, they belong to Grimmjow. And please remember, he is not an Espada only because he is tending to the children." Aizen's glance was at Nnoitra. Tosen still had him at swordpoint and from the look on his face, he was very unhappy with the Espada. Nnoitra muttered something that sounded like agreement but probably wasn't. Grimmjow just gave him a vicious grin. If the bastard wanted to try again he would be ready. "Everyone get back to your duties. Szayel, send your fraccion to clean up this mess." He was the one of them who had a sizeable fraccion. Szayel made a face but had the sense not to protest.

"Seriously, what happened…?" Grimmjow ignored Starrk as he flew back up the tower. Someone else could handle that. Violette had retreated to his rooms and was holding a squalling, terrified Tigre. She was trying hard to soothe the infant and he was just beginning to calm, which was more than could be said about Bonito and Suisen. The two little ones clung his legs. Bonito was sniffling, trying to hold back his tears while Suisen gave in and cried her little heart out.

"Mami… mami…" She repeated over and over and Grimmjow knelt, taking them both in his arms. He made soft, soothing sounds, rubbing circles on their little backs.

"Please don't make us go away. Please…" Bonito begged tearfully and Grimmjow shook his head before nuzzling a tiny, bone covered cheek.

"I'm not making you go away. You're mine, now." He promised and they both looked at him, wide eyed and disbelieving. "I'm adopting you. But no hurting Tigre, got it?" They both hugged him harder and promised that they would never hurt Tigre, and they would hurt anyone who tried to touch him. Grimmjow wasn't really too worried. The differences between vasto lorde pups and the lower ranks were profound. The pups would be more needy now but he and Violetta could deal with that. And that reminded him. "Good job taking care of that fraccion." He said to Violetta and she gave him a small smile. "I'll talk to Shiro, see about making you a fraccion." Theoretically, Grimmjow could have a fraccion. But Shiro was the cero, it would be a hell of a lot more impressive coming from him. Violetta's eyes went wide for a moment before her smile deepened.

"I would like that." She said softly and Grimmjow snorted. That was probably the understatement of the century. Being in a fraccion would mean security for her and her pup. Putting trust in Yammy was a losing proposition.

"What was that black thing you did? Found your shikai?" He asked and wondered if Gin or Tosen would look into that. They'd figured out that Violetta's powers were more shinigami than most arrancar. And shinigami really needed to learn their power, which explained why she'd been so weak. The woman nodded. "Good. You might need it." He wouldn't be the least surprised if Nnoitra and Szayel tried again. "Can't wait to tell Shiro and Ichigo about this." He mused before grinning evilly. His mates would probably go hunting for a bit of revenge.

Grimmjow absolutely couldn't wait.


	8. Chapter 8

"The fuck is this?!" Shiro demanded, holding a groggy and disoriented Grimmjow against his chest as Ichigo scowled, a hand on the hilt of his sword. Aizen just smiled at them both. Szayel was in a corner, obviously wishing he could be somewhere else.

Grimmjow had been called in with Tigre for a routine checkup. Gin had delivered the message, so Ichigo and Shiro had thought nothing of it. Violetta had gone with Grimmjow and she was the one who had run back to them with Tigre and word that Aizen wanted to see them. The reason why had become apparent when they'd rushed in and found an unconscious Grimmjow in the middle of Szayel's lab. The only thing amiss with him, though, was the collar he was wearing. Shiro tugged on it then stopped as Grimmjow made a small mew of discomfort, even in his unconscious state. He glared at Aizen, silently demanding an answer.

"It's an extra incentive." The shinigami said smoothly. He preferred to manipulate through other ways than straight blackmail, but the unrelenting hostility and suspicion of the Cero, his brother and his mate had made that impossible. And there were just so many ways to blackmail them. "You see, I created Wonderweiss for the sole purpose of defeating the Soutaichou." Shiro nodded impatiently. They knew this already. "Recently, however, I've been wondering if he will succeed. I believe that you and Ichigo, working together, might also have the power necessary to bring him down."

"Working together? What d'you mean? And what do you mean by extra incentive?" Shiro demanded and Aizen smiled with false kindness.

"Do you remember when your mask was first broken? Ichigo fused with you for a moment. I want you to recreate that moment. Szayel has set aside a special practice ground for it." That was only necessary. The levels of energy they would unleash if they succeeded could decimate the Numeros. Shiro frowned thoughtfully, glancing at Ichigo. Ichigo looked a bit disturbed by the idea. "And to ensure you try very, very hard, I've fused that collar with Grimmjow's reiatsu. It doesn't limit his power in any way but when I activate it, he will be confined to your wing. And I can use it to kill him at any time." Shiro froze, white hot rage flowing through him. Ichigo actually pulled Zangetsu off his back before getting a grip on himself. Aizen pretended not to notice. "If you die in battle, I will no longer have any need of him, or the child. Do keep that in mind." He said quietly and the two brothers exchanged a glance before Shiro drew a breath.

"Then we won't lose." He said grimly and Aizen nodded with a smile.

"That is my hope." He said politely and Shiro desperately wanted to kill him. But he couldn't, not with Grimmjow's life on the line. Instead he picked up his mate and sonido'd away before he could do something he would regret. Ichigo followed right behind and Shiro could hear his quiet swearing.

"Son of a diseased antelope. Fucking piece of goat shit… I hope he chokes on a cock and dies." Ichigo said viciously and Shiro grinned tightly at the image. He'd like that, too. "If we kill the Soutaichou he better give us the key for this collar." It obviously took a key. There was a hole for it, and Shiro was glumly certain that Aizen had the matching key.

"Yeah." He made a note to demand that at the next Espada meeting. That would put a bit of pressure on Aizen. Plenty of the Espada had no parental instincts at all, but several of them were more evolved. Halibel and Starrk would feel strongly about it while Ulquiorra and Barragan would register some mild disapproval. Everyone else wouldn't care. For a moment he wished Nel was still around. She'd have been bang on their side.

When they got back to the nest Grimmjow was just starting to stir and the children mobbed them both with frightened questions. Tigre was in Violetta's arms, bawling his little heart out. Shiro got Grimmjow settled in and concentrated on calming Bonito and Suisen as Ichigo took Tigre. Sensing his sire's reiatsu and the comforting, familiar arms the little baby began to sniff and gradually calm. Ichigo crooned to him, kissing one pink little cheek. He looked up as Grimmjow growled and shook his head, sitting up.

"What the fuck happened? …That bastard Szayel drugged me!" He sounded incensed but then realized he had a fashion accessory. "What the – OW!" Grimmjow gave the collar an experimental tug and flinched in pain. "WHAT IS THIS?!" He howled and that set Tigre off again. Ichigo winced, cuddling the baby as he wailed.

"It's Aizen's insurance policy." Shiro said as calmly as he could, meeting furious blue eyes as Grimmjow held out his arms for the baby. Ichigo passed him over gratefully and Grimmjow forced himself to calm for the child. "He can kill ya at any time, now. He wants us to fight Yamamoto if Wonderweiss doesn't win."

"Kill Grimm-papi?" Suisen sounded tearful. "Please no! Not another! We don't want to lose another!" She begged and Shiro winced before gently patting her shoulder. These pups had lost so much. Their mother to death, their father to madness. Now their new family was threatened.

"It just means we have to win." Ichigo said grimly before looking at his pale twin. "Let's go practice." He wanted to stay and reassure his family but they might not have much time. Aizen was projecting the final battle in less than six months. Shiro nodded, his expression somber.

It wasn't long to master a power of this strength, but they had to do it. The lives of their mate and children were counting on it.

* * *

_The final battle._ Shiro's eyes narrowed as he looked over the assorted shinigami arrayed against them.

He had nothing against any of them. He didn't know them, didn't dislike them and he certainly didn't hate them for being shinigami. Some of the others had hard feelings about that, he knew, but Shiro considered it to be pointlessly stupid. Van had taught him that everyone had their place in the world and the shinigami were vital to the functioning of the universe. Just like a hollow had to kill to survive, shinigami had to purify hollows. It was what they were for. What else was the point?

But now he was faced with another decision that wasn't a decision and Shiro sighed to himself. He had to kill for his mate and offspring to live. Glancing at Aizen he crossed his arms, just watching as the battle between the lesser powers began. He was being held in reserve in case Wonderweiss failed. The only power that might possibly be able to handle Yamamoto was his.

Ichigo wasn't, though, and Shiro bit his lip as he watched his brother crossing blades with a few of the lower ranked shinigami. They didn't last long and Ichigo didn't even pull out his bankai. Then he went to help Tosen against another taichou and Shiro nodded as they took him and his buddy out. Not fatally – Ichi was too nice and Tosen seemed to like those guys – but they were badly hurt. Then Ichigo went to help the Primera as Tosen went to help Barragan.

Then Wonderweiss arrived to take his crack at Yamamoto. Shiro winced slightly as that went bad in a hurry. It seemed Aizen had underestimated the Soutaichou and Wonderweiss was shattered into about a million fragments. Shiro glanced at Aizen who nodded, his expression calm and serene. Shiro drew a deep breath and pulled out his sword. Yamamoto's shikai was already active.

"Burn, Vlame." He said calmly. He had two different releases, depending on which power he wanted to use. But ice would not be able to counteract Yamamoto's flames. No, this would be a match of equal powers.

White flames slowly rose around him, forming a circle of fire. Shiro felt his armor return to him, his full appearance as a vasto lorde. His white hair was a mane of fire, dancing playfully in the wind. Yamamoto just looked at him and Shiro could read no expression in that ancient face. Then the fires clashed.

_Damn near equal._ Shiro noted as he stood, dancing his fire against the flames of Yamamoto's shikai. _But that's because he's holding more in reserve._ Shiro didn't think for one moment that the Soutaichou was going all out against him. He was just getting a measure of his opponent before he crushed him. Or so the old man thought. As he felt the Soutaichou's power build for a massive strike, Shiro called in his own power.

"Segunda Etapa." _Second Stage._ Fire blazed even more strongly than before and the bone armor on most of his body melted away, replaced with white skin. Red fur circled his wrists and ankles, and his feet were more lizard like than human. A lizard tail flicked behind him and his horns were still there, wickedly sharp as always. But the bone on his face was gone and Shiro grinned, a tight, feral expression. _I'm gonna win old man. I'm gonna win because I have to._

Everyone on the battlefield had noticed the tremendous density of power building above them. Some were even moved to stop their conflict and watch. But Ichigo knew he had to exit his battle quickly.

"Shiro!" He called his brother's name, knowing that he would need him shortly. He rushed the shinigami with the two swords, trying to end the battle quickly. He didn't want to kill the man but he needed this to be over.

The hit he made should have been a shallow wound across the chest. He didn't get as much strength behind it as he would have liked, not enough to make it properly disabling. That was what made the gout of blood such a surprise. Ichigo's eyes went wide as he watched the man in the pink kimono cough, blood on his lips as his head went down. Then, strangely, the shinigami lifted his head and smiled.

"You won the game…" He said before he spiraled out of the sky. Ichigo watched him fall in utter confusion.

"What game?" He asked himself before shaking off his surprise. Leaving his fallen enemy behind he went to join Shiro. His brother needed him.

"About fucking time!" Shiro was sweating with effort and he was getting a distinct feeling that the Soutaichou was losing his patience with him. If the old bastard whipped out bankai and Ichigo wasn't there he would be feeling the pain. His brother flew threw the flames, completely untouched by the silvery fire. It recognized him and welcomed his power. "You ready?"

"Ready." Ichigo said simply before putting his arms around Shiro from behind. Then he dissolved, flowing into his brother as smoothly as a dream. Shiro took a deep breath, feeling the amazing, soul tingling power that was Ichigo fill him.

To everyone else on the battlefield it was as though his reiatsu had suddenly tripled. The weight of it sent combatants to their knees and caused even the Espada's fights to pause. And some began to flee.

"The Cero!" Abirama drew in his breath in a painful pant, bent halfway over. Kira was struggling just to stand, his face pale and sweat beading on his skin. "We're… too close!" They were practically beneath the Soutaichou and the Cero. It had seemed like an excellent vantage point and they'd called off their own battle to watch but now… "Come!" Putting aside any thought of fighting they combined their strength in an effort to get away. That proved incredibly wise as Shiro's power abruptly spiked.

"Tercero Etapa." _Third Stage._ The power of the silver flames flowed inwards then abruptly vanished, sucked into Shiro's body. He changed again, assuming a completely human form this time. His hair was still white but short like Ichigo's and he wore nothing but a piece of black cloth, shielding his nether regions. All of his mask fragments were gone and of course, he had no hole. He was natural born, a whole if slightly tarnished soul. Shiro was holding a sword as black as midnight. It was the sword of Ichigo's bankai, but combined with his own powers.

"Bankai." The Soutaichou's reiatsu choked the air as his flames vanished. Abirama fell to his knees and Kira grabbed his arm, forcing the arrancar up as they desperately continued their flight. The other taichou and Espada pulled back, giving up their own conflicts to watch this battle. Shiro grinned wickedly as their swords crossed for the first time.

"A fire so hot you can't even see it!" He said with a wild laugh as they danced through the air. Yamamoto was good, damned good, but he was old. His reflexes were a touch slower than the youngling he fought against but only a touch. Would age and treachery win out against youth and determination? They would have to see. "Bet you never thought there would be two, old man!" Because that was the power he was using now. The heat around his body would scorch anyone to cinders. He could feel the same heat around the Soutaichou, feel the incredible power behind it, and clashed his with it fearlessly.

"What are you fighting for, hollow?" Yamamoto asked, his voice a deep rumble. Shiro could guess what was going through his mind. There was a genuine chance he could lose and if he did it would rip the heart out the shinigami.

"Don't bother tryin' to talk me out of it, gramps." Shiro said easily as he blocked a strike that could have decapitated him and retaliated, raising a fine line of blood as the Soutaichou dodged. "You can't. I wish you could, but you can't." His eyes narrowed as he spotted an opening and just as quickly registered it as a feint. His father had loved that kind of trick. "I'm fightin' for a hostage, for my mate and cubs. I have ta win." That was all there was to it. Failure would mean Grimmjow's death so failure was not an option.

"I see." Was his only response and that suited Shiro just fine. He needed all his concentration for the battle. He could feel Ichigo behind him, lending his strength, but his brother wasn't trying to interfere. They needed to work together seamlessly.

Then Yamamoto called on a power that took Shiro by surprise. The ground split with a titanic force – if Kira and Abirama had still been close they would have died instantly – and disgorged corpses. They were all the victims of the Soutaichou's fire and Shiro's eyes narrowed as he felt Ichigo's power rise up like a tide of golden fire.

"That's a nasty power. I don' think you should have it!" He said before letting that golden fire flow. It illuminated the bodies and they abruptly vanished, snuffed out as though they had never been. Then the gold flowed further and it was as though the ground and buildings became pallid, like they were mere drawings on a page. Yamamoto resisted the effect but the other taichou pulled away further in discomfort and awe. Shiro frowned before pulling the power back into himself. It seemed to affect the very laws of reality and he didn't know what would happen if they did that too long. "Let's end this old man!"

Shiro gathered all his power for a final strike, and felt Yamamoto doing the same. This was the moment that would decide everything. And he wouldn't lose because he couldn't lose. Ichigo's power rose up in him like a torrent of golden fire as he flew forwards, his sword ready.

It felt like he was suspended in a moment of time, just watching as his hand darted down with preternatural speed. Not even Aizen could have moved like that, caught the Soutaichou's sword and held it in a hand protected by golden fire. His own sword had no such barrier and it bit deep into flesh. Shiro watched, almost regretful, as his enemy vanished in a swirl of darkness. It was similar to how hollows died, but he knew it was caused by the intense heat of his blade, reducing Yamamoto to ash.

Then time sped up again and he felt the tremendous drag on his strength. Ichigo's power flowed away and the two of them separated, causing him to lapse back into his sealed form. Ichigo put Shiro's arm over his shoulders – the pale hollow had taken the brunt of the drain – and helped him go to Aizen. Their lord and master was watching them with a small smile on his face.

"Hey. Where's that fuckin' key?" Shiro demanded, managing to straighten despite the hollow feeling inside. Aizen's smile widened before he nodded towards the ground.

"Soon. But before you go, could you heal that man?" He asked and Shiro grimaced, glancing at Ichigo. He was looking less than thrilled at the thought. "I have use for him and you have damaged him severely."

"I still don't know how… fine. I'll do it." Ichigo said with a sigh as Shiro hissed his displeasure. But they both went down, landing beside the man in the pink kimono. Ichigo knelt and gently touched his shoulder, beginning the healing process. The other taichou, the one with silver hair, watched them in confusion.

"Why…?" He said with a ragged cough and Shiro grimaced, looking away. He couldn't give any healing. He had just barely enough energy left to make a garganta and get back to Los Noches. This man would probably live anyway, despite his horrible wounds.

"Aizen's orders." Shiro said shortly as Ichigo took on the completely absorbed look of an excellent healer. "…Huh." The shinigami were surrendering. As Aizen had thought, Yamamoto's defeat had ripped the heart out of them. Shiro wondered what would happen when Aizen had the throne and he just hoped it wouldn't involve them. But why should it? They just wanted to be left alone. Grimacing, he ran a hand over his face. He knew that was stupid. Aizen wasn't the type to count on things like that. "Shit." He hated being forced into a reactive position, but there was nothing he could do about it. Aizen held all the cards.

"There." Ichigo sounded so tired, so worn as he pulled himself to his feet. "He'll survive, although he'll be unconscious for some time. Now…" They both flew back to Aizen. "Key. Now." Ichigo sounded exhausted rather than impatient and Aizen laughed, pulling out the iron key and handing it over.

"Thanks. When we get to Los Noches, we're leavin' and we ain't comin' back." Shiro warned and Aizen just nodded. That was part of the deal, when the final battle was done they were free to go. He created the garganta and he and Ichigo lurched through. It seemed to take forever, a sign of how drained they were. But they finally arrived in Los Noches. Shiro tumbled to his knees in the sand as Ichigo stood, feeling achingly weak. They were finally –

His heart seized up and brown eyes went wide as a stranger appeared in front of him, no doubt attracted by the energies of the garganta. He had long, flowing black hair caught with silver clips, a very handsome face and a taichou's haori. Then a second man appeared, handsome in a completely different way. He was tall and battered, with hair in spikes and bells in his hair. Shiro and Ichigo could easily sense an immense reiatsu, held in check by the eyepatch he wore. It wouldn't have been enough to take them before. Now, this man could crush them easily.

"…That motherfucking son of a bitch." Ichigo whispered as he understood. Shiro started to giggle, and the giggles grew into cackles that turned into maniacal laughter. His brother slumped onto his side, the laughter rocking his body. They both saw the truth, too late. "AIZEN!" Ichigo fell to his knees, pounding his hands as he screamed the traitor's name. Ichigo gasped for a moment before he gathered himself, closing his eyes as he suppressed the rage. Then he opened them, looking at the two taichou. Taichou Aizen MUST have known were here, waiting for them. "We can only humbly beg for your mercy." He said, bowing his head. Shiro's giggles were tapering off and the two shinigami exchanged a glance before the taller one scratched his scarred cheek.

"You seem pretty pissed at Aizen. What's up with that?" He asked curiously as the prettier one just watched them, his grey eyes calm and cool.

"He knew you was here. He had t' know… motherfucker set us up to die." Shiro answered, pulling himself up with a grin that contained more than a trace of madness. "Oh, I can see it now… he'll say to the other Espada, 'oh, how tragic! Who could have imagined that would happen?' Oh, wait, no, he won't even let them know. He'll murder our mate an' pups an' no one'll ever know we died here. He'll tell everyone we went back to the mountains. Fucking brilliant, I tell you." Shiro finished with another mad cackle and Ichigo scowled before punching him in the shoulder. "Ow! What?"

"That's not helping." He told his brother before looking at the strangers. "If you're going to kill us, we can't stop you. But please… please take this key." He drew out the iron key, offering it to the shinigami in the palm of his hand. "There's a hollow in one of the towers. Free him, let him leave this place." He begged and the tall shinigami sighed as the pretty one considered him for a moment.

"Eh, this is lame. You can't give me a good fight." The tall one said. The other one shook his head before speaking.

"Perhaps we can come to an agreement." He said calmly and Ichigo felt a faint moment of hope. Maybe Aizen had misjudged these two. Maybe there was some chance they could get out of this alive. "How was the battle progressing when you left?"

"…It was over." Ichigo admitted, although he knew the shinigami wouldn't like what he had to say. "The Soutaichou had fallen to the Cero Espada." He was going to leave out the fact that that was Shiro, though. He wasn't insane. "The other shinigami were surrendering and Aizen was just beginning his ascent to the heavenly throne." Grey eyes widened and the tall one looked like he must have misheard.

"Are you shitting me? The Cero killed Yama-jii?" He asked and Ichigo nodded. "How strong is this fucker?" Ichigo blinked. The shinigami sounded excited?

"He's the most powerful of the Espada." Ichigo said and surreptitiously kicked Shiro as he opened his mouth. His brother winced but got the point and didn't say anything stupid. "It was a battle of equals, it could have gone either way." That was true enough. The shorter shinigami was looking grim.

"It sounds like we are too late. But we can only try. In return for letting you live, you will make a garganta to Soul Society for us." He demanded and Ichigo nodded. They wanted to go to the real Karakura town to put up a valiant last stand. But there was a problem.

"We can't. We's burned out, totally. Aizen made sure we would be." Shiro looked and sounded utterly exhausted. The stranger frowned as the taller one scowled. Then Ichigo thought of something.

"Grimmjow!" He said excitedly and Shiro looked at him blankly for a moment before he understood and grinned. "Grimm's our mate, he's locked in the tower. Take us to him and after we free him he can make a garganta for you. It would be easy for him." His powers were completely unused.

"Acceptable." The pretty shinigami said and they both pulled themselves up, making their way to the tower. The two shinigami had to hold themselves to a rather slow pace. They could barely manage sonido and shunpo in their condition. Along the way they picked up a pink haired girl who promptly nicknamed Ichigo and Shiro. It was amusing, largely because her nickname for Shiro was… Shiro. The two shinigami introduced themselves as Kenpachi Zaraki and Kuchiki Byakuya, respectively.

When they reached the nest Grimmjow was pacing to and fro, holding a fussing Tigre. Violetta was trying to distract the children. Her belly was swollen with child and she was nearly ready to give birth, but she didn't let it slow her any as she chased the little ones around the nest.

"Woah, what is this? The fucking nursery?" Kenpachi said, looking around the room in surprise and some confusion. Ichigo glanced around, really seeing the place for the first time in a long time. There were toys scattered everywhere along with colorful cushions. Little things that Tosen and Gin had brought them littered the floor. Wooden toys for the twins, a rubber ball, a teething ring for Tigre…

"Yep, it's the hollow nursery. Aizen figured it'd be best t' keep 'em altogether." Shiro said wearily as Grimmjow bristled at the strangers, looking at them with wary hostility. "Ichi?"

"Right." He placed the key in Grimmjow's collar and uttered a small prayer to himself. Surely Aizen wouldn't have given them a fake one? To his relief, it worked and the black collar popped open. Ichigo tossed it away as Grimmjow breathed a deep sigh of relief. Then he frowned at his mates.

"What's going on?" He demanded and Shiro gave him a quick rundown of events, not leaving out Aizen's treachery. "Shit! Here, you hold him." He passed Tigre off to Ichigo, who smiled and cradled his young son. "I'll get you guys to Karakura town so fast you won't even blink. And hit Aizen extra hard for me." Grimmjow said and Kenpachi grinned.

"Ken-chan would love to do that!" Yachiru said with a bright smile. "Kenny will have to fight you someday, too! You're really strong, aren't you?" She said to Shiro and he shrugged, not confirming or denying. "You're just tired right now but he'll fight you someday!"

"Ah, later Yachiru. Let's get going." Kenpachi said and Grimmjow took them out of the tower as Shiro, Ichigo and Violetta began gathering the things they really needed for their trek to the mountains. The twins were allowed to take one thing each, and Ichigo suggested they bring the shinigami toys. Bones and pieces of crystal could be replaced, but wooden and rubber toys were in short supply. Bonito took a rubber ball while Suisen grabbed a carved, wooden goat.

"It reminds me of mami." She confided and Shiro smiled at that. "When will we be leaving Shiro-papi?"

"As soon as Grimm gets back." That wouldn't be long and then they would be on their way.

Hopefully, with Aizen, out of sight would be out of mind.


	9. Chapter 9

Vandular breathed the heavy, reiatsu laden air and let himself absorb the spirit particles. They did not carry a coherent message but they spoke to him all the same.

_Off balance. Out of kilter. Wrong wrong wrong._ Vandular grimaced to himself at the message. There was nothing new about it. It had been singing in the air since the vasto lorde had left their home in the mountains and he knew why. It wasn't just that they'd left the mountains, although that was part of it. The mountains were only a place, a hospitable location that the vasto lorde naturally gravitated to.

The real problem was predation. Vasto lorde did kill each other, in the normal course of things. There were always battles over territory, younglings and newly turned struggling to claim a place. Sometimes those battles ended in mating and the weaker got to stay or walk away, pride bruised but otherwise intact. Sometimes those battles ended in feeding instead and that was simply the way of things.

It was different now. Instead of young challengers, the strong vasto lorde were preying on each other for a variety of reasons. 'He looked at me funny' was on the list and Vandular sighed. He was tempted to do a bit of predation, himself. He really disliked a few of the other vasto lorde. He didn't know for certain, but he estimated their numbers had been thinned by a bit less than half. He'd gotten a fair count of the vasto lorde when he'd spread the word, and less the great old ones and himself and his mate, they had numbered seventeen. Vandular thought that perhaps seven of those were dead now. But then, they had all known the danger they would face in the barren wasteland. They just vastly preferred the familiar danger of each other to a threat of enslavement.

But that meant that the three worlds were slightly out of balance. Vandular thought that the powerful vasto lorde were roughly equalled by the powerful number of shinigami. Some had not realized their full potential, perhaps, but if there were around twenty vasto lorde there would be the same number of potential bankai wielders. The shinigami thought of bankai as rare, and it was… but one a generation suddenly became more impressive when you considered that shinigami lived as long as two thousand years yet still measured their generations in fifty years. Of course, it took a long time for the potential to mature. But it took a long time for an evolved vasto lorde to become a great old one, if they ever could.

Vandular turned away from the reishi with a small headshake and wondered, not for the first time, if he'd done the right thing. Perhaps he should have gathered his peers and tried to put a stop to this. They might have failed but perhaps they should have tried –

The world suddenly seemed to tilt on its axis and Vandular very briefly lost consciousness. When he came to he was face down in the dirt and feeling incredibly disoriented. It reminded him of a time he'd been poisoned as an adjuchas or, reaching back even further, a few times he'd been drunk. He dug his hands into the hard stone, just praying for it to end. It finally did and he groaned, rolling onto his back.

"Did you feel something just now? …Van!" Rin knelt by her stricken mate, gently resting his head in her lap and running her fingers through his pelt. That in and of itself made him feel much better. "What happened? Are you alright?" She asked, her voice anxious. Vandular evaluated himself before nodding.

"I seem to be fine." He said, which was true. There was nothing at all wrong with him… however, there was a great deal wrong with everything else. "Something just happened. Something… momentous." The change in the reishi had been so strong that Rin had sensed it too. That was unprecedented. "Hm…" The sense of wrongness was stronger than ever and Van narrowed his eyes as he struggled to define it. "I… can't tell what it is." That alarmed him because he sensed that the problem was just too large. Something so big that it defied his ability to understand. "I need to meditate, try to find clarity." He muttered as Rin tilted her head, her ears back a bit. "I think we should go back to the mountains."

"I'm eager to go back to the den. But are you sure?" She asked and he let his senses range over the winds before nodding.

"The problem does not lie here, but somewhere in the three realms." That was frustrating. Hueco Mundo was always the last place to get news. Of course, that likely had something to do with the way hollows ate visitors. "It should be safe enough. Let's take up our den, and I'll spread word to the vasto lorde that it is time to return." Vandular considered this a signal. Things were bad, now. The vasto lorde needed to take up their dens and begin raising new pups and possibly feeding a few adjuchas, forcing some evolutions. Although that would be a hard sell. Spreading his wings he took to the air as his mate loped on the ground behind him.

Selfishness was always in the nature of hollows.

* * *

The Espada waited patiently for Aizen to return.

They were standing in the Seireitei. With Aizen's victory complete, they had summoned the Numeros and led the campaign to seize Soul Society. That had gone very well, not surprising when all their most powerful warriors were wearing collars of seki stone and being kept under lock and key. There had been resistance, of course – mostly led by two taichou – but they had finally put it down. The taichou were both critically wounded but the healing taichou, Unohana, said they would both recover.

"Something is wrong." Barragan muttered before sniffing the air. Everyone else ignored him. "…What is taking Aizen so long?" He asked himself before beginning to pace. He was starting to feel very uneasy.

"I still say we should kill him." Abirama was glaring down at the fallen taichou with the spiky hair. Barragan ignored him. "He killed Nirgge!"

"His fault for taking him on without any backup." Findorr said indifferently and Abirama snarled at him. Barragan tried to ignore them both. They were his only surviving fraccion, the others had died to the shinigami before the Cero had turned the tide.

Abruptly, the world seemed to shift under his feet. Barragan barely maintained his consciousness as he was suddenly brought to his knees. There was a shocked gasp from the healing taichou and she collapsed as well, clinging to the ground as if it was moving beneath her. There were similar reactions among the captured taichou, although only their peers were available to witness Shunsui and Juushiro almost passing out.

Then it was over. But not really. Barragan pushed himself to his feet with an angry scowl before closing his eyes and concentrating. This wasn't Hueco Mundo so he was at a great disadvantage when it came to reading the winds, but it didn't take long for him to get the general gist. Unlike Vandular, he had the advantage of knowing what was occurring in the heavenly realm.

"That fool. That incompetent idiot!" He snarled as Findorr and Abirama just looked at him in confusion. They had moved to help him but he shrugged them away. "To fail at the final step! We are lucky to be alive." Suddenly worried, he glanced around. But there was no sign of impending doom, just the horrible wrongness in the air. It had grown so strong that the ancient hollow was surprised his fraccion couldn't feel it.

"The air feels… greasy." Abirama muttered and Barragan's opinion of the fraccion went up slightly. "Your Majesty, what happened?" Unohana had pulled herself together and was tending to the fallen taichou again. She had more immediate concerns than the fate of the three worlds.

"Aizen. I believe he failed to take the heavenly throne." He growled and the two fraccion exchanged a 'what does THAT mean?' look. "However, I don't know exactly what happened. We need to hope someone arrives to tell us the outcome. Is anyone watching the access point?" Barragan didn't know and cursed himself for the oversight. But they hadn't anticipated failure. "Both of you… no, I will do it myself. Keep an eye on this woman and if she does anything, kill them both." He ordered before leaving. There was some danger in leaving his fraccion with Unohana – she was vastly more powerful than they – but her zanpakuto had been taken away. It was not required for her healing talent.

Barragan arrived at the access point to find he was alone. He wasn't terribly surprised. If Abirama had felt the 'greasy' air the other Espada would have as well, but none of them were as old or in tune with the cosmos as Barragan. He doubted any of them had figured out what was wrong. He crossed his arms and waited patiently for anyone to arrive.

He didn't have to wait long. Tosen stumbled out of the tunnel, carrying a bleeding and almost dead Gin. Barragan spat a curse before taking the silver haired shinigami and giving him healing. Tosen had already done some of it, he noted. If he hadn't Gin would certainly have died by now.

"What happened?" He asked as he worked. Healing was far from his greatest skill but Tosen was exhausted. The shinigami sat on the ground, his white clothing stained with blood. None of it appeared to be his, however.

"The throne… I never imagined it was sentient. I don't think Aizen had any idea. It rejected him, destroyed the hogyoku." Tosen sounded like he was almost in shock. "But the throne cracked. For a moment I thought it was going to come apart, but then it healed itself." Barragan shuddered to himself at the thought. What would have happened if the crack had widened instead of healing? Nothing good, he was sure. "Before that happened, though, we killed everyone there. I… regret this now. What do we do?" He sounded lost and Barragan frowned. "…Gin was a traitor. He tried to kill Aizen." Tosen added almost as an afterthought and the former King of Hueco Mundo blinked.

"So Aizen did this?" He said, not too surprised. He'd always had a feeling the fox wasn't quite what he seemed, but his own loyalty to Aizen had always been largely superficial. He didn't enjoy being the 'pet' of a shinigami, no matter how powerful. Tosen nodded. "…Hm." Barragan considered the options for a moment.

They had seized control of Soul Society. That was true whether Aizen was alive or not. Yet… did they really wish to remain? He would have to call a meeting of the Espada to discuss the matter. Leadership would likely fall onto him. Shiro could have taken that mantle but he was too busy fleeing with his family to the mountains. Starrk possessed no motivation and Halibel was not strong enough to challenge him. But he could not simply give them orders like Aizen, not with a decision of such magnitude. And the problem of the empty throne in the heavens was extremely pressing. Barragan knew himself and knew that the throne would reject him. He did not think he was an evil soul, but he was certainly corrupt. No hollow could claim kami's throne.

That left the shinigami and Barragan grunted as he sonido'd away, carrying Gin as Tosen followed. They would need to consolidate their grip on Soul Society before anything else. Then the Espada meeting, and finally a meeting with the surviving taichou. Which was all of them, in fact. Several had taken terrible wounds but the Soutaichou's defeat had occurred before any of them could perish. Perhaps one of them would be fit to take the heavenly throne and they could arrange a peaceful withdrawal to Hueco Mundo. The more he thought about it, the less Barragan wanted to remain in this alien place.

For good or for ill, Hueco Mundo was his home.

* * *

The next week passed by rapidly.

The Espada quickly decided they had mounted a tiger and like it or not, they had to ride it. Simply returning to Hueco Mundo would invite retaliation from Soul Society and with Aizen and Shiro gone they might have difficulty meeting it. They could massacre the taichou before they left but that idea only got passing scrutiny. Barragan was of the opinion that such an act might utterly doom them, with the three worlds already completely out of kilter.

Tosen had consulted with all the greatest scholars and sages of Soul Society. He knew who to ask and who might be capable of visions. He also spoke to the oldest taichou. They were less than pleased with him but horrified by his news and well aware of the possible effects. They gave what help they could and Tosen began putting their recommendations into effect.

Barragan went with the shinigami and their captive taichou to the heavenly realm. Perhaps because the throne so desperately needed an occupant, it was easy. There was no need for a King key, no need for any spiritual gymnastics. Simply a pathway of gold that invited them in. The gold nipped at Barragan's souls, stinging the dark and tainted ones, but he endured it with a stoic expression. His nature was nothing to be ashamed of and the holy realm was not trying to destroy him, merely remind him of his place.

When they reached the heavenly throne they both stepped back to let the taichou try. He was Kuchiki Byakuya, and a very distant descendant of the royal line. Barragan watched as the man took a deep breath and stepped towards the throne. The old hollow honestly hoped it worked. The Kuchiki man had promised to allow them to withdraw and forswear any future retaliation. They would have to take Tosen and Gin with them, though. If they remained in Soul Society they would answer for their crimes.

The throne was not even remotely impressive. It was simply a chair, and not a particularly ornate one. But Barragan could tell that it was the physical manifestation of something much greater, and he had an idea that it would change to suit its owner, once it had been properly claimed. Byakuya grasped the armrests and sat down in the chair.

Nothing seemed to happen except that the shinigami's eyes grew distant. He stayed that way for a few short minutes before stirring and standing up. His expression was filled with something like wonder as he blinked and looked at them.

"It does not want me." He reported and Barragan grimaced. The throne of the heavens was making demands? "It wants the child of two worlds. I… do not understand." He sounded bewildered and Barragan sighed before scratching his moutache.

"I wish I could communicate with it directly." The ancient hollow had a feeling that he might be able to get something more coherent out of it. But he was too corrupt and not of the royal line. That seemed to be more important than Aizen had thought.

"We must return and consult with the sages again." It wasn't obvious but they could both tell that Tosen was depressed by the failure. He was experiencing a great deal of guilt and remorse. Not for killing the occupants of the Soul King's realm – he still felt that his actions were justified – but for putting the three realms in jeopardy. The stomach churning wrongness seemed to increase every day and they were all very afraid it would eventually reach a point of no return.

They would have to find this 'child of two worlds' as quickly as they could.

* * *

"Aw. You have the cutest pup ever, Ichi." Shiro was holding little Tigre and smiling as the baby beamed at him. The little one was wearing a very loose fitting smock, fashioned crudely from the remains of Shiro's Espada jacket. He was outgrowing clothes rapidly and this would last him quite a while.

"Thanks! Although I'm sure your pups will be just as cute." He teased as Shiro laughed. Of course, it was much too soon for Grimmjow to conceive again. That would have to wait until Tigre was weaned and out of the nest.

"Why is the air so nasty, Grimm-papi?" Bonito asked and Grimmjow just shrugged as Shiro and Ichigo both frowned. They'd both felt the change and Ichigo had reacted very strongly, actually passing out. Shiro had found it almost painful. Now, though, it was just a miasma in the air.

"Is this you Shiro-papi?" Suisen asked, fluttering through the air and touching a carving on the wall. Shiro glanced over and laughed, passing Tigre off to Grimmjow. The cat took the little one with a smile.

"No! That was my papi." He said cheerfully. They had taken up Van's and Rin's old den. It was extremely comfortable, well hidden in the mountains and carved beautifully. Shiro had never been interested in carving and both Ichigo and Grimm lacked artistic talent, so it was nice to have it already done. And if they ever changed their minds about that they could easily change dens. "You remember him? The dragon hollow?" Suisen's eyes went wide as she remembered.

"He was big and scary!" She sounded appropriately awed and Shiro grinned, slipping up behind her and grabbing her waist. "HEY!" She tried to flutter away and he dragged her back, laughing. They played a tug of war until he let her go and she flew around him, an adorable little butterfly.

"My my." They all froze and Ichigo's eyes went wide as they heard a familiar voice. "What is this? Squatters in our den?"

"It does look that way, doesn't it?" A female voice replied. "Whatever shall we do with them?"

"I think – OOPH!" Shiro cackled maniacally as he tackled the owner of the male voice and began to playfully bite his belly. "Ow! Shiro! You are far too old for –umph!" Ichigo joined in and Vandular found himself entirely outmatched. "Enough! I give, you win!"

"Oi, you ain't even tryin'! Lazy!" Shiro said affectionately as Ichigo laughed. "Mami…! You're pregnant!" He could tell from her scent and the feel of her reiatsu. There were no visible signs yet. She nodded.

"I conceived on the way here." She sounded pleased, her tail perky with happiness. "So many pups! I know Vandular is worried but I can't regret it." She said and Shiro tilted his head.

"Worried? About the air?" He could guess that was the problem. "What does that have to do with pups?" He honestly didn't understand that. Vandular lifted himself up and glanced around the cavern. His eyes widened as they fell on Suisen and Bonito. They were hiding behind Grimmjow's legs, more shy than frightened.

"The balance is out of joint… I know those pups! They had the insect adjuchas sire. How did you find them?" He asked and Shiro grinned. They would have a lot to go over. "Who is this?" He asked, gazing at Grimmjow.

"Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. He's our mate." Shiro explained and Vandular exclaimed as he caught sight of Tigre and realized he was Ichigo's child. "Yeah, we didn't expect that either. We've got a lot to tell you." It had truly been momentous events.

The rest of the day was spent trading stories back and forth. Vandular managed to coax a brave little Suisen into his lap. Rin got to hold her grandson, which was a new experience for her. Even vasto lorde rarely kept in touch with grown children. For adjuchas it was almost unknown. Vandular laid his ears back as he heard about what had happened to Szayel and Nel.

"He seemed like a decent sire. A pity his personality changed." Vandular said sadly and Shiro nodded. "Well, they are very good cubs. I'm sure you will do well by them." Although there was no guarantee that they would survive Hueco Mundo. The sands never offered any guarantees. "Why did you take up our den, though? Surely you knew we would be back for it." Van sounded mildly vexed and Shiro grinned.

"Yeah, we did! But we figured you wouldn't kick us out. Sorry papi." Shiro said teasingly and Vandular laid his ears back before heaving a sigh.

"I suppose we can always steal someone else's territory. In fact, I can think of one right now." He mused before grinning evilly. A skull mask could do that very well. "I owe the demon a bad turn. Of course, he's likely to murder someone else just out of frustration. But he does that all the time anyway." Vandular said sourly and Shiro blinked, wondering who the demon was. Probably another vasto lorde, and a particularly nasty one.

"We're just glad you're alright." Rin sounded very grateful for that and Shiro smiled at her. He vaguely wished that she and Vandular were arrancar. It was so nice to have real facial expressions, rather than making do with body language and tone. "Although, do you really think you should do that love? You already had some words with him. He might attack you." Rin sounded worried. Van considered it a moment and grimaced behind his mask.

"You might be right. Sanity was never his strong suit. We will find something less dangerous." He said and Grimmjow snorted.

"Shiro made it sound like you can kill anything. You scared of this guy?" He said roughly and Shiro could tell he was feeling a bit uneasy in the presence of two other vasto lorde, grandparents or not. Vandular just gazed at him for a moment and Grimmjow finally looked away.

"I am not afraid. But the balance is already disjointed. We really do not need to make it worse." He said calmly. "And if he did fight me it would be a massive battle. There would be a great deal of collateral damage." Shiro tilted his head, surprised. He could tell that was the only reason Van was thinking of not doing it. Given how lazy he could be and how little he liked to challenge other vasto lorde, he must really despise this demon.

"What's this about the balance?" Shiro asked and Vandular caught them up on his news, which was sparse. Although it did get interrupted halfway through. "Mami! Don't eat that, Grimm'll have a fit!"

"What?" Rin stopped with the little hollow halfway to her mouth. It was the same one whose mask had been broken so long ago, when Aizen was testing out the hogyoku. The little thing had abandoned them for Yammy for a while, but had followed them out of Los Noches. When it had gotten tired Grimm had carried it with Tigre. "Why?"

"It's a pet." Shiro explained and his mother blinked, looking at the tiny creature. It struggled feebly in her grip until she put it down and then it darted away, tumbling into Bonito's legs. He giggled and began to play with it. "Grimm loves it, it's call Kukkapuro."

"Hmm. A dog. I remember them from my living days… in any case, we don't know what has happened or why the imbalance has dramatically worsened." Vandular finished his story, what there was of it. "I need to go out in the wastes and gather the vasto lorde again. There has been too much predation and these quick pregnancies are a sign of it. There was a baby boom after the War of the Red Queen, too." Vandular sounded a bit nostalgic. "Would you mind looking after Rin while I'm gone?"

"Van! I don't need looking after." Rin objected and Van shrugged before catching her hands in his, giving her a gentle squeeze.

"No, but it would make me feel good to know you are cared for." He said warmly and Rin pouted for a moment before nodding reluctantly.

"You are such a soppy old thing." She said, rubbing her face along his affectionately. Van returned the gesture, bone scraping against bone as they left scent markings behind. "Come back soon so I can reward you." She breathed, her hands dipping low and making Van grunt.

"Oi! Get a room, you two!" Shiro broke the moment, as children usually do. Rin laughed as Van shook out his wings and left the den.

He had a great deal of work to do and he wanted to be back as soon as he could. His reward would be waiting.


	10. Chapter 10

It took them three days to find the answer, and that was because of Gin.

The silver haired shinigami was badly wounded. They'd had to take him for organ regeneration, a desperate procedure but absolutely required to save his life. It was remarkable that he'd survived long enough to reach Unohana but Tosen and Barragan had both done their best to preserve him.

The regeneration took three days. Not to say he was completely healed at that point, but he was able to move around at a slow pace and do a bit of gentle exercise. So Gin was able to hear about what had happened to Aizen and all the complications surrounding it.

"Your brains are a bit stupid." The fox said, his voice a bit wheezy but his smile in place. Barragan just stared at him, his arms crossed. Tosen didn't even bother to muster up any caring. He was simply exhausted. The taichou in the room, Byakuya, had an even better stare than the Segunda Espada. "The answer's right in front o' your noses an' you can't see it."

"Spare us Gin. What have we missed?" Tosen sounded as exhausted as he looked and Gin started to laugh before stopping, a hand on his chest.

"Unf… yeah. It's Ichigo Kurosaki. Or maybe I should say… _Shiba Ichigo._ " Gin's smile turned into a grin as Barragan tilted his head slightly. That name meant nothing to him. Tosen didn't react either but Byakuya twitched ever so slightly. "You remember that, don't you Bya-kun? Such a disgraceful event! The downfall of a great clan, all for love."

"Wait, you are saying that Ichigo is of the royal line?" Tosen interrupted and Gin nodded. "Impossible! Aizen would never have let him live."

"Oh, he didn't plan to. He figured Bya-kun here and Kenpachi would finish him and Shiro-chan off. And if they didn't, Aizen was gonna hunt them down later, after he got the throne. He only let them live to take on Yamamoto. He figured the royal power combined with the Cero's would be enough to beat the Soutaichou and woo, was he right about that!" Gin said cheerfully and it was Byakuya's turn to be shocked.

"That white hollow was the Cero?" No one had enlightened him about that. He frowned, ever so slightly and Gin smiled at that faint sign of temper. He knew that meant that Byakuya was furious.

"Yeah, but don't blame him too much. He was fighting for his mate an' his brother's baby. Did you know shinigami and arrancar can breed? Such an amazin' thing!" He said cheerfully as Tosen rubbed a hand over his face. "Beautiful baby boy, too. Aizen planned to kill him. Couldn't have any other claimants to the throne, hey?"

"Aizen…" Tosen stopped with a small sigh. "I… was wrong." The admission pained him deeply. "We must go to Hueco Mundo and secure the Shiba boy, bring him here."

"What you need to do is rest." Barragan interrupted. "You are exhausted to the point of making fatal mistakes and in Hueco Mundo, that is unacceptable." He added as the shinigami looked ready to protest. But then Tosen paused, evaluating himself. He finally nodded his acceptance. "Should this be a mixed group?" He glanced at Byakuya, who nodded.

"We have a stake in this as well." He said quietly although the look in his eyes was reserved. They all knew exactly why. With the knowledge that sooner or later they were going to be leaving, the Espada were trying to keep the arrancar army from abusing the population too much. But an invading army will loot and rape, it was the nature of war. There would certainly be hard feelings when all was said and done. Yet, the shinigami could likely be counted on to keep an oath when they gave it. Tosen said so and he would not lie. "Would Shunsui and Soi Fon be acceptable?" He asked and Barragan glanced at Tosen. He was just as much in charge as the elderly hollow, with his greater knowledge of the shinigami. Tosen nodded.

"Wish I could come, but…" Gin shrugged and Barragan shook his head.

"I wish you could as well but it will be at least a week before you are fully recovered." Barragan really didn't like that. Of all them, Gin was probably on the best terms with Shiro and his family. Tosen was close behind and the children adored him. But could they wait the night for him to be rested? "We should act now. Shiro will at least speak to us before attacking." Having so many children would incline the Cero towards caution. And once they had a chance to talk, all would be well. Barragan didn't know them too well but he could not believe any child of Vandular's would refuse to save the three worlds.

He always taught his children responsibility.

* * *

"It's alright, darling. Just take slow, deep breaths." Rin gently encouraged a struggling Violetta as Grimmjow wiped her forehead with a bit of cloth taken from her skirt. Their Espada uniforms would all be in tatters soon but none of the arrancar cared. Ichigo and Shiro watched, carefully staying out of the way. They both lacked any experience of this sort of thing although Shiro had at least witnessed Tigre's birth.

When Rin and Van had arrived, Violetta had been in the side cavern, sleeping. Her expression when she'd come out to find a strange vasto lorde there had been priceless. But she'd quickly become acclimatized to the idea, especially with the extra protection it offered her and her pup. Rin had been a bit bemused. This was not typical at all for vasto lorde… but then, they were arrancar. Who was to say that they would do things the same way?

No one, and this would be the first true offspring of the new hollow breed. Tigre didn't really count, being half-shinigami. As Violetta labored Ichigo frowned, looking towards the entrance to the nest. Then he glanced at Shiro, meeting his brother's eyes.

"You feel it." It wasn't a question and Shiro nodded.

"Somethin' big." He chewed on his lower lip for a moment before frowning. "Papi'll feel it too." Van was off gathering the vasto lorde and instructing them to return, but what would he do when he felt this new disturbance?

"There's nothing we can do. We can't possible move with Violetta like this." Ichigo said with cold practicality and Shiro nodded reluctantly.

"Not 'til the babies born. An' even then, if it's Aizen we might just want to lead 'em off." Shiro said and Ichigo grimaced, looking away. That was their greatest fear, that Aizen would come for them.

"Baby is almost here. I can see the head." Rin said encouragingly and both their attention was pulled back to the tiny woman on the floor. She was propped with her back against Grimmjow's chest, her legs spread wide. "Just a few more." Ichigo sighed to himself in relief and felt a matching relief in Shiro. It was rare, but vasto lorde could die in childbirth, particularly the first time after they gained a humanoid form. The greatest danger was that the child would not be able to pass through the hips, but if Rin could see the head then that was not a concern.

The baby slid free and Rin quickly sucked at the child's mouth and nose, freeing the airway. The little one gave an offended scream as Violetta gasped, exhausted. The afterbirth quickly followed and while they were desperate to see the little one, Ichigo and Shiro gave the small group a chance to clean everything up. Rin bit through the cord before passing the pup to Violetta. She immediately began licking the child off, cleaning it as any adjuchas or vasto lorde would. Grimmjow tidied up the afterbirth, eating it without any qualms.

"A girl. She's beautiful." Violetta sounded exhausted but very pleased. "Look, she has antenna!" They were white bone, and flat against the child's skull. Violetta tugged on one curiously. "I think they're stuck to her head."

"Likely so she could be born without damaging them." Rin said and Violetta nodded. "We should probably free those." Violetta nodded and began licking the child's hair, working off the gluey substance that was holding down the antenna as everyone clustered around, looking at the cub.

She resembled Yammy in a lot of ways. Where Violetta's skin was pale, the child was a warmer shade. She had the same blush-like markings on her cheeks and Ichigo smiled at that. He had a feeling they would look much better on a girl than they had on Yammy. Her hair was black, but that was no surprise. Violetta and Yammy both had black hair. The antenna might have come from either of them. Yammy's adjuchas form had been a centipede while Violetta had been a locust.

"That's a relief." Shiro muttered and Ichigo nodded. It was a relief that Violetta had survived but it was also a relief that she was so accepting of the child. They hadn't delved into the matter but Yammy's 'seduction' of her had been… forceful. Violetta hadn't shown much enthusiasm over the pregnancy, approaching it as more of a duty than anything. But now that she was holding the girl in her arms, her delight was obvious. "Still can't run though." He said and Ichigo nodded. Vasto lorde healed quickly but it would be at least a day before Violetta was in any condition to move. "We better start scouting."

"Right." While it was tempting to remain in the den, they just couldn't. "We need to catch them some food, too." Suisen and Bonito still didn't like the pills and a good kill would help Violetta get her strength back. "Let's go." Ichigo nodded and they quickly set off.

If whatever was causing the disturbance came to them, they would do their best to destroy it.

* * *

Barragan halted, scenting the wind before glancing at the shinigami beside him. Kuchiki Byakuya was tentatively in charge of the shinigami for now, although that would likely change after the arrancar left. From what he could tell, Kyoraku Shunsui was older and more powerful than the Kuchiki noble, but less inclined to be responsible.

The matter of who would succeed the late Soutaichou did not concern him, however. What claimed his attention and worry was the odd feeling he was getting… that they were being paced. Barragan reached up, stroking his mustache for a moment. Was he just being paranoid? It had been a very long time since he'd been to the mountains. Yet, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching them with an unfriendly regard.

"Is something wrong?" Halibel asked. In addition to the three shinigami, he'd taken her and Starrk. That left their forces in Soul Society rather weakened, but there wasn't much to do there. With the balance of the three worlds so perilous, it felt like everyone was holding their breath. Barragan grunted.

"It is nothing." Surely he was imagining things. No one vasto lorde would dare challenge them. Not even the dragon would dare take them on! They continued through the mountains, searching for any sign of the Cero. And when they came to one especially open clearing Barragan drew a very disagreeable conclusion.

_We are surrounded._ On the face of it, it was preposterous. Vasto lorde did not work well together. But his instincts said they were in deadly danger and he gripped the hilt of his axe before speaking very quietly to the others. Soi Fon already had her weapons ready. The woman was easily as alert as any hollow and had sensed the tension in the air.

"Ready yourselves. We are about to be – " Then he jerked up his axe, just in time to absorb a painful blast of lightning. The power of it knocked him back several feet and Barragan felt stunned as he tasted an all too familiar reiatsu. And it was not alone. The wind howled as other signatures abruptly revealed themselves. There was laughter, high pitched and girlish as well as dark and wicked as their opponents gave up all stealth.

There were five of them. Twin sisters erupted from hiding, long white horse tails and hair flying as they attacked Kyoraku, double teaming him with the ease of long practice. A female with long black hair and a faintly snake like aspect engaged Byakuya, her claws clashing against his sword. Soi Fon and Halibel faced a male that Barragan knew and detested. But he had no time for that. He and Starrk were left to face the greatest threat.

"Release your zanpakuto, you idiot!" He barked at the Primera. Lilynette had been riding on his shoulders and she could be easily hurt if he left her like that. "ARGH!" Wicked claws slashed through his side, penetrating his hierro. "Rot, Arrogante!"

Things got nasty after that. The only one really winning his battle was Shunsui, and even that was debatable. Byakuya had called his shikai and the snake woman was using a similar power, little silver globes that exploded in large bursts. The globes were dueling with sakura petals and no one was winning. Halibel and Soi Fon were suffering badly against their opponent. A male with a demonic aspect, he was clearly a goat type and his armor was decorated with jagged black marks. He was also a partial arrancar, self-made and self-taught. He released his zanpakuto with the word 'corrupt'. That was fitting because everything he touched became poisoned, diseased. He also spat streams of acid, one of which hit Soi Fon in the arm. She cried out in pain but recognized what she had to do. It was familiar, from her aborted battle with Barragan.

"Remove it!" She said to Halibel and the other woman acted, slashing down with Tiburon. The arm was neatly removed, halting the spread of the acid. Their enemy just laughed, enjoying the pain he had inflicted. Unlike the others, who were fighting for all they were worth, he was playing.

The ones who were suffering the most, though, were Starrk and Barragan. Starrk was bleeding heavily from a dozen cuts, firing off cero after cero in an effort to hit something that was simply too fast. Barragan was clashing his axe against claws and struggling to absorb and redirect the focused energy their opponent was turning on them. He had the knowledge and experience to do that, but it still wasn't easy.

"Vandular! Stop this madness!" He managed to say. Why… oh, of course. The other hollow probably thought they were here to kill his sons. "Aizen is dead! We've come to save the three worlds!" That made the dragon pause slightly, although only in his attacks. He still had to evade Starrk's efforts and the Primera was not letting up for a moment.

"And you would come to Hueco Mundo for that? Your words make no sense." He said before attacking again. Barragan grunted as he felt his axe creak. He didn't bother to use respire. Just as he could ground and redirect Vandular's lightnings, the other hollow would bleed off respire into the atmosphere. He would only be wasting his energy and he didn't have as much to spare as his opponent.

"Shiba Ichigo! Your adopted youngling is the heir to the Spirit Throne!" He managed to say and Vandular's attack truly halted. Then he was going after Starrk, backhanding the Primera and trying to snatch his guns away.

"Starrk!" Lilynette cried as Vandular managed to seize her. But he did nothing more, merely holding the weapons as Starrk ended up on one knee.

"You swear to me, on your own pride, that this is the truth?" He said and Barragan nodded, not surprised that the other would phrase it that way. They both knew he was very proud. "Everyone, stop!" He called, magnifying his voice. No one paid the least bit of attention. "Cover your ears." He instructed and Barragan winced to himself before following the instructions. It wouldn't really help much but it was all he had. Starrk didn't listen, starting forward with the intention of getting Lilynette back.

Then the Primera was knocked back, his eardrums nearly exploding as Vandular roared. The sound of a full grown vasto lorde was always impressive. The sound of a great old one, pumping his reiatsu into his voice, was awe inspiring. Around them the rocks trembled, little stones falling down the sides and threatening an avalanche. Everyone stopped fighting, stunned. Of the twin girls, one fell to the ground, twitching dramatically.

"I'm dead papi! You just killed me!" She called and Vandular ignored her. Barragan turned his head, regarding the two. Papi? He extended his senses and found they were indeed Vandular's pups although quite a bit below his power level. Also fairly young, only a few centuries if he was any judge. Their mother must have been considerably below Van's power level.

"The hell? I was enjoying myself." The demon complained and Barragan could see why. Halibel was shaking, her body covered in bite marks. He didn't even want to know how that had happened. Soi Fon was unconscious now, although she'd managed to stop the bleeding from her amputated arm.

"Barragan has told me something interesting. It seems I was a bit hasty in assuming these strangers were here for Aizen. Barragan, explain it to us all." He commanded and the old hollow did, giving them a longer account of what had come to pass. As he did Van went to Halibel's side, resting a hand on her shoulder and gently urging her to sit as he began to infuse her with reiatsu. He didn't bother to ask the demon to help, although he could have removed his own venoms easily. Barragan and Vandular both knew better.

"So you've completely wasted our time? Fuck! I want to kill something." The demon exclaimed and Vandular looked up, annoyed.

"Then go do so. You will pay for it, in the end." He said, his voice cold. The other vasto lorde sneered and spat out a line of acid, etching a line into a nearby cliff face.

"Shamanistic bullshit! Go fuck yourself." He said succinctly before vanishing in a burst of sonido. Vandular growled something incomprehensible but clearly not flattering as Barragan tilted his head to one side.

"Strange company you are keeping." He observed as Starrk finally managed to get his hands on his guns and began checking over his other half for any damage. Van just shrugged, his wings rattling.

"He sensed me gathering the vasto lorde and tagged along. I didn't have the time or inclination to drive him off." He said shortly and Barragan nodded. That sounded right. "…Girls, stop that!" He snapped and Barragan looked over to see the two young vasto lorde were circling Kyoraku in a way that he was clearly interpreting as threatening. However, to a hollow the body language told a completely different story. The stopped, swishing their tails and looking at him.

"But he's cute papi! And we don't have a mate." The one who had played dead said. Her voice was higher in pitch than her mostly silent sister, who chose that moment to speak.

"And we know shinigami and vasto lorde can breed. He would make good pups." Her voice was warm and purring, quite different form her sister. "I am Amargo." She told Shunsui, who was smiling in a way that seemed flattered to Barragan's jaundiced eye.

"I'm Dulce!" Her sister said, jumping up and down a little. "What's your name?" She asked as she sidled up, her tail twitching. Kyoraku didn't put his blades away but he did lower them.

"Kyoraku Shunsui. You know, for hollows, you're really quite adorable." He said and Barragan wondered what the shinigami was doing. This had to be against some kind of rule… although Ichigo had established that shinigami and vasto lorde could definitely breed. Grimmjow had been pregnant before his mask had been broken.

"Girls. Possible or not, this is really not appropriate." Van broke in firmly and there was a great deal of pouting. Barragan sighed to himself as he caught Shunsui's smile and made a mental note that the shinigami was more clever than he'd thought. He'd clearly calculated that Van wouldn't allow his daughters to fraternize with a shinigami so instead of disappointing them himself, he'd let the dragon do it.

"Am I needed here? I have no interest in making pups with a shinigami." The female snake said, her voice pleasant enough but a touch on the cool side. Vandular hesitated briefly.

"If you would be willing to travel with us I would greatly appreciate it." He said politely. He wasn't quite willing to place his trust in the shinigami and arrancar just yet. The snake woman tilted her head to one side before nodding. Barragan tried to sense her power and decided she was close to being a great old one, but not quite there yet. No doubt that was why he'd never met her. She was younger than himself and had likely come to prominence only after he'd left the mountains.

"Will she live?" He asked Vandular and he shrugged, drawing his hands away from Halibel. She was gasping, her head down.

"Uncertain. You know how his venom works." He said and Barragan nodded. Neither of them had been infected with it, but they'd tried to help a few adjuchas and vasto lorde who'd run afoul of the demon. Adjuchas were doomed but vasto lorde could recover, if they were strong enough. Halibel had been a newly evolved vasto lorde when her mask had been broken, but as an arrancar she was formidable. She might survive. "The other one is not infected." He nodded towards Soi Fon, which was a minor relief. "You will have to carry them both." He wasn't offering to do it himself. Trust was a precious commodity at the moment.

Finally, though, they managed to get everyone moving. And with Vandular to guide them they found the Cero's lair easily. Ichigo and Shiro were gone, however. Byakuya had seen the children before but Shunsui got to see hollow pups for the first time.

"How adorable!" He smiled at the little ones. They were hiding behind Rin. She had tried to shoo them more deeply into the den but Bonito and Suisen were simply too curious to stay back. Grimmjow was also peeking out suspiciously, Tigre in his arms. "And that must be the hybrid child. Why, he looks just like a shinigami." Shunsui tilted his head to one side, feeling out the little one's reiatsu. "He feels like both a hollow and a shinigami… intriguing." Tigre's reiatsu was powerful and very mixed. Grimmjow growled, backing up a bit.

"What th' hell's going on?" Shiro and Ichigo appeared a moment later, summoned by all the power at their den. "Papi! The hell?" He demanded and Vandular launched into an explanation. Barragan was mildly surprised to see that Shiro and Ichigo were not the least bit surprised at the revelation of his royal blood.

"See? I told you. A prince." Grimmjow said and Shiro sighed as Ichigo shrugged. He was frowning, though.

"I can't let the three worlds fall into ruin." He said in a low tone and everyone nodded. That was a given. "But what about Tigre? How will this affect him, papi?"

"I don't know Ichigo. But Rin and I will be there for you." He said in a gentle tone and Ichigo nodded, his brown eyes troubled. "And we must act now. Time is short." The wrongness was only increasing. Ichigo nodded again, firmly this time.

"Then I'll go. Thank you all for helping." He said to the three vasto lorde. Vandular's twins had accompanied them, too.

"It was nothing!" Dulce chirped as Amargo nodded. "We better be going! Need to grab a den and find a mate while there's room for pups!"

"Yes." Amargo agreed and they vanished in a burst of sonido. That left the snake female and Vandular nodded to her.

"I owe you a favor, Natwa." He said and she nodded back.

"You do." She agreed before vanishing in her own sonido. Vandular chuckled softly. He knew her reasonably well and she was a hollow of few words. There was a flurry of activity from the den. No one wanted to be left behind and moving so many children required a bit of effort. They all let the females and dams organize themselves and the children. Vandular gently took Halibel from Starrk, trying to infuse his reiatsu into her battered body. The demon's venom was actually more of an infection and the only way he knew to survive it was simply to ride it out. He could strengthen her, make her survival more likely, but that was all. Perhaps the shinigami could do more.

They would have to see.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: Question. Do you guys want to see a fic that centres on Vandular and the other hollows? It would be OC centric although it would follow Bleach cannon and the main characters would definitely show up. ^_^ Oh, and this fic is definitely winding down. Only more more chapter and it'll just be tying up loose ends.

Ichigo took a deep breath as he stepped into the heavenly realm for the first time.

Then he stopped in shock and near awe. The heavenly realm was similar to Soul Society, which he had only seen briefly. But it was also _more._ The sky was bluer, the trees were greener. He felt like he was stepping into an idealized dream, a place too perfect to actually exist. A feeling of wellness filled him, followed by the wrongness that permeated everything. That reminded him of why he was here and he continued walking.

Then stopped as Grimmjow reacted with a gasp and nearly dropped Tigre. Ichigo smiled and turned to watch all the reactions.

They varied quite a lot. Shiro was almost as shocked as Grimmjow, staring at the place with wide eyes. Violetta winced a little at the sting to her souls but otherwise took it in stride, her arms full of little baby. Rin gasped and stopped dead, her tail between her legs and her head tilted back as she looked at the sky in astonishment. Vandular just calmly glanced around before nodding slightly. Ichigo looked at his father for a moment. With the illumination of the sun, he could really see the brilliant colors for the first time. His father's hair was brown on the edges, with a ruff of gold running down the centre. His mask had no real markings, but his curling, upswept horns were interesting and his bat like ears were pierced and decorated with golden hoops and studs. Vandular's hollow hole was at the base of his throat and black lines fanned out from it, like jagged lightning bolts.

"Mami! You're really red!" Shiro said in surprise as Rin laughed. Ichigo glanced at her and blinked in surprise. He'd always known her hair was red, of course, but now it practically glowed. Her mask had a small red teardrop on the left side, red lines on the right and she had ruffs of red fur on her wrists and ankles. The sundress she wore was yellow with little pink flowers, a peculiar contrast. She flicked her flexible, fox-like ears before reaching up and gripping a lock of her hair, examining the shade. Vandular chuckled softly, sliding behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist. She leaned back against him happily.

"It's beautiful." Van said before nuzzling her. Rin returned the affection, bone scraping across bone. As they did that, Suisen and Bonito took to the air, squealing with joy at this new and beautiful place. "…Pups." Van sighed as he let go of Rin and took to the air, easily corralling the two escapees. "Shall we continue?" He said as he landed, his arms full of children. Ichigo nodded.

"Right." He could sense the impatience of their escorts. Everyone was desperate to see if Gin was correct about his parentage. They made their way to the throne room and Gin and Tosen were waiting for them there. Ichigo paused, taking a moment to examine it.

It was definitely worth a second look. Even badly damaged by combat, the beauty of the room practically glowed. One whole wall was nothing but windows, letting in the sun. The other wall was delicate paintings depicting the landscape and people of… the Living World? Soul Society? It was hard to say. There were soaring mountains, verdant hills and rolling grasslands. Tiny figures that were people crossed the pictures. Unfortunately, a large section had been destroyed, along with the wall. There were wall fixtures made of a very pretty golden metal, hung with delicately painted paper lanterns. Only a few had survived, though, and one was covered in dried blood.

None of that bothered the hollows. They had all seen much worse in Hueco Mundo. The throne claimed their attention although it wasn't that impressive. Ichigo was surprised to see that it was just a chair, not particularly ornate or even interesting. But there had to be more to it. Taking a deep breath he stepped forward, walking confidently to the Soul King's throne. Then he turned around and seated himself.

_Oh!_ His exclamation was soundless as he lost any awareness of his body. It felt like his mind was exploding, seeing the vastness of the three worlds. And he could immediately see how disjointed they were. The Soul King had an extremely important job, and that was correcting any imbalances and preventing them from going too far. Right now everything was careening completely out of control.

Ichigo immediately started on correcting things. He instinctively knew what to do. He needed to push these souls over here, clean up the Blanks a little – there was no time for a memory rosary to form – take care of this…

* * *

Ichigo woke from his reverie to see that his father was asleep on the floor of the throne room and it was dark outside. The throne room had been cleaned up a bit, too. All the bloodstains had been removed and the damaged fixtures were gone although they had not been replaced.

"Papi!" He stood from the throne, stretching as Vandular woke with a snort. To his surprise he wasn't sore at all. Sitting for that long should have been painful. "How long has it been?" He asked, expecting to hear that it had been around eight hours. That was probably the length –

"Three days." Ichigo gaped at his father and Van chuckled softly. "Why else would I be the only one here? We've been keeping shifts, waiting for you to awaken."

"Oh." Ichigo swallowed hard before shaking his head. "How is…" He started to ask but then realized that he knew. If he concentrated, he could see what everyone else was doing at this moment. Grimm, Shiro and the children were all sleeping. Ichigo smiled as he saw little Tigre snoring softly. Barragan was awake and sitting in the gardens, looking at the stars. Gin and Tosen were both asleep, along with Byakuya and a few other shinigami he really didn't know. He blinked to see that Vandular was regarding him with interest.

"I see you are learning to control your new gifts." He observed and Ichigo nodded. That was a good way to put it. This was all very new to him. Although… if the Soul King could see things like this, how had Aizen successfully plotted against him? The answer came easily, provided by visions of the past. The Soul King could see anything but he was not omniscient. He needed to know where to look. By the time Aizen's treachery had become clear he'd gained the hogyoku and used it to block any attempt at celestial spying. Ichigo winced to himself as he realized how insanely powerful that little cube had been. He was glad it was gone.

"Well, we shouldn't wake everyone up. I'll keep working until dawn." He said and Vandular nodded before lying down again on the floor, resting his chin on his hands and crossing his legs together. Ichigo smiled to himself, reminded of an overgrown hound. Although no dog had ever had wings or horns. Seating himself on the chair he fell into his reverie again, but not so deeply.

He wanted to be aware when everyone woke up.

* * *

The next day began rather formally.

Vandular had spread word that Ichigo had awoken and several shinigami and prominent nobles began arriving. Frowning, Ichigo realized that the 'door' to the King's realm was still wide open. Sighing to himself, he decided to seal it later. After the terrifying scare they'd all had, no one was about to assassinate him. Barragan, Tosen and Gin were all there as well, although they were receiving plenty of dislike and some out and out hatred. Ichigo frowned to himself as he regarded the events of the past and the motivations of those involved. The throne let him see such things.

The shinigami and nobles paused as they entered the throne room and Ichigo smiled to himself as he saw their trepidation. He knew why they were hesitating. The throne had changed to suit him, as it did for every occupant. His version was cold, smooth stone, beautifully carved with images of life in Hueco Mundo. Mostly scenes of hunting, and the top of the throne held the crescent moon, looking down on her lost and lonely children. Ichigo was just glad the throne was stone and not bone. That was the only other building material he knew.

The other thing giving the soul reapers pause was his relatives. Shiro was standing to one side and everyone knew him for the hollow who had slain Yamamoto. He'd abandoned his Espada clothing for a black and white yukata, but it really didn't help much. To his other side was Vandular, arguably even more impressive than his son in his full bone. The only thing that made him approachable at all was the children. Suisen and Bonito chose that moment to run through the room, playing a game of chase with Tigre trying to crawl after them. Grimmjow's warm chuckle filled the room as he caught up the baby, gently getting him out of the way and making him giggle. Shiro laughed as Vandular easily brought the other children to heel, gently telling them to go play in the gardens. The windows could slide open and soon they were outside, but those moments broke the tension in the air and the shinigami approached him before bowing to the throne.

"Greetings, Shiba Ichigo." Byakuya was the one to speak. As a prominent noble and a taichou, he was arguably the highest ranked person in this room… well, aside from the Soul King. Ichigo nodded.

"Greetings, Kuchiki Byakuya. Please forgive me if I offend. I am not yet studied in shinigami courtesies." He'd decided beforehand to make that apology. Gin and Tosen's lessons hadn't included things like bowing and tea ceremonies. They'd been too busy training warriors to fight. Byakuya made a small gesture of negation, indicating it was of no importance.

"Understandable. We wish to discuss the reorganization of the Soul King's realm and what your edicts will be." Ichigo frowned slightly before the throne provided him with some understanding. Most Soul Kings, when they first ascended, made several proclamations. They could range from important things to making their own birthday a holiday. Ichigo smiled to himself at the thought. He didn't know his own birthday so that concern was moot.

"I have only one edict. As long as the arrancar remain in Hueco Mundo, they are to be left in peace." He said firmly and Byakuya nodded as one of the nobles behind him looked like he'd sucked on a lemon. The rest of the shinigami took it in stride. They'd probably been expecting that from him. "If they leave Hueco Mundo, you may take whatever actions you wish." He wasn't going to help anyone who decided to leave the sands. They were taking their chances. "As for the organization of my court… Tosen Kaname." He said firmly and the shinigami stepped forward and bowed, his face serene. "I can see all the things you have done and I see why you did them. I don't really understand all of it – in Hueco Mundo, the only law that exists is what you make – but I can see you wanted to make a difference. Would you be willing to join me here and try to bring justice to the world?" He knew that was a lot to promise, but during his second reverie he'd had time to explore the past. Tosen bowed again, more deeply this time.

"I would be honored." He said and there were suddenly several horrified protests. Byakuya quickly took over, speaking over the others.

"Your majesty, you would accept this murderer into your court?" He said, his voice carrying condemnation. There were murmurs of agreement from the other nobles and shinigami but Ichigo laughed, a sharp, bitter sound.

"You say that to _me?_ To a member of the Shiba clan?" He said harshly and the Kuchiki noble had the decency to look down. There was a sudden wave of discomfort in the other nobles as they realized the hypocrisy involved. There was confusion and curiosity from the hollows, arrancar and some of the shinigami, though. "When I was communing with the throne, the very first thing I did after the worlds were stabilized was look up the history of my mother and father. Listen and I will tell you the story." He said for the benefit of those who didn't know. This was important.

"A long time ago, there was a beautiful princess." Ichigo said, remembering the image the throne had given him of his mother. "Her name was Masaki and she was the daughter of the Soul King's brother. One of the king's guards at the time was a man named Shiba Isshin. They met when she was young and over several years, they fell in love." Ichigo smiled as the scenes of the past flashed through his mind. His father had been very silly sometimes but his mother had loved every moment of it. "It would have been a decent match but my grandfather decided he wanted something better, in terms of power. So he betrothed her to a member of the Shihoin clan." At the time they had definitely been a cut above the Shiba clan. "He didn't care about her feelings. She was a daughter, an object to be used as he saw fit." He said with an edge of harshness. Barragan's expression didn't flicker but several of the others showed discomfort. Hollows weren't exactly free of sexism – individual attitudes dated to their living days – but on a whole, all that mattered to them was strength. The thought of treating a daughter differently than a son would sit oddly with them. "In her pain and grief, she fell into the arms of the man she loved and he comforted her, creating me."

"She tried to hide the pregnancy. Their plan was for her to give birth to me in secret and Isshin would rush me to his kinsmen. The long betrothal period helped, but it wasn't much of a plan and they were caught just after she gave birth." Ichigo said, his eyes darkening as the scene of blood and pain ran through his mind. "My grandfather ordered my mother's death and sent his men to hunt down my father. They would have killed me as well, if fate had not intervened." Ichigo nodded at Vandular and his adoptive father nodded back. He was listening to the story with an air of great solemnity. Then he looked back at the nobles.

"All of that I might be able to forgive. The Soul King had no opportunity to stop his brother, my grandfather. But I cannot forgive him for what happened next." He said, his voice like iron. "He allowed my grandfather to engage in a vendetta against the Shiba clan. Over the next ten years, they were almost wiped out. There are only a few survivors, living as peasants in the Rukongai and hiding their name." From the surprise on a few faces, they hadn't been aware of that. Ichigo wasn't surprised, the Shiba clan had gone deeply underground. "And the Soul King did nothing!"

"It was his brothers' right, as one of the royal clan and a powerful noble." Byakuya said calmly and Ichigo took a deep breath, calming himself before nodded.

"As it is my right to accept Kaname Tosen as one of my royal court." He agreed and the Kuchiki noble nodded his understanding and acceptance. There was a leaden silence from the others but none of them dared contradict him when the truth of the matter had been laid bare. "Now, Gin." Ichigo turned his attention to the other renegade shinigami and the man gave him a fox like smile, not intimidated in the least. "I can see what motivated you… and I'm sorry. I can't give you what you want." He said softly and Gin nodded, unsurprised.

"Yar, yar. It was destroyed with the hogyoku?" He asked and Ichigo nodded sadly. Gin had wanted the lost piece of Rangiku's soul. Aizen had stolen a part of it from her, just like many other shinigami, to make his half of the hogyoku. "So there's nothin' to be done?" He said wistfully and Ichigo shook his head.

"Actually, there is something. It will take a while and Rangiku might have to stay in the King's court for a year or more, but I think I can make a 'patch' for her soul." He offered and Gin looked intrigued. "Eventually her soul will heal and if the patch takes well enough, she'll be capable of bankai. I can't promise that though." Right now, Matsumoto would never achieve bankai. It required an intact soul. "You can stay until that's finished, but afterwards… would you even want to stay?" He had a feeling Gin wouldn't care for the King's court. Sure enough, he shook his head.

"Nah. I think I'll go to Hueco Mundo, see how the arrancar are doin'. Barragan's said I can be his advisor. Should be fun, eh?" He said with a smile and Ichigo laughed as the King of Hueco Mundo just looked stoic.

"It will definitely be interesting! Now, have you decided who will succeed the late Soutaichou?" They went into more details then and Ichigo got a good idea of how things were faring before he began appointing a few members of the nobility to his court. He didn't know any of them but the throne let him get a reasonable idea of their motivations and personalities. He also began putting together a new Zero squad. He didn't want to take any of the taichou – they had a lot of work to do – so he accepted Byakuya's recommendation. Abarai Renji would be the first member and the new taichou of the Zero squad. Ichigo wondered how he would react when he found out about the promotion. He was a fukutaichou at the moment, but he had achieved bankai recently. Kyoraku was going to succeed Yamamoto as Soutaichou. That surprised Ichigo slightly but the older man was stronger than Byakuya and probably capable of great things when he tried.

Eventually, everything was settled and most of the nobles returned to Soul Society. Ichigo kept the 'door' to his existence open. There would be too many people coming and going now to close it, but he planned to do so when the week was out. Then he looked up as a clawed hand touched his shoulder.

"Do you wish us to stay, Ichigo?" Vandular asked and Ichigo nodded. It was the strangest thing in the world, but they'd discovered that the fruits of the Soul King's garden were perfect hollow food. They were impregnated with the reishi of the King's dimension and gave both substance and powerful reiatsu. All the hollows were eating them although Rin, Violetta and the children ate the most. He wasn't worried about running out though. The orchards were vast, beautiful things.

"If you could. Papi, would you be one of my advisors?" He asked, looking at the vasto lorde with some worry. He wasn't sure Van would accept. He considered it a moment, his bone covered head tilted thoughtfully. Then he nodded.

"I want to see what is going to happen." He said and Ichigo smiled. That did sound like his papi. "And I don't want to leave the two of you alone again. You seem to get into endless trouble." Vandular sounded a little pained and Ichigo scowled.

"Oi! As if we asked Aizen to show up." He said jokingly and Van laughed, a low, warm chuckle. "Oh, that reminds me… can you tell Barragan I need to get Szayel up here? I keep forgetting." There was just so much to do, it was making his head spin. "I should start taking notes." Then he wouldn't be forgetting details. Van flicked his ears, mildly confused.

"The sire of the pups? Why?" He asked and Ichigo hesitated. Vandular might not like it, but…

"I'm pretty sure I can put his old primary personality back into control. And Suisen and Bonito could use their sire." He said softly and Van looked very surprised. He flicked his ears thoughtfully before speaking.

"A small disturbance in the way of things, but it was an artificial change to begin with. I will fetch him, if you wish." He said and Ichigo relaxed. He'd been afraid his sire would think it was wrong. "Oh… but before I do that. Ichigo, there is something I want to ask." That clawed hand clasped his shoulder again and Ichigo looked at his sire curiously. "Your sire, the shinigami I devoured so long ago… can you bring him out for a moment?" Van's voice was soft and compassionate. "I think he should see the marvel his son has become."

"Papi." Ichigo whispered, touched by the request. It was a huge thing for any hollow, giving up control that way. Normally they would never allow it. "I'll make sure you come back afterwards." He pledged. That was the terror all hollows would feel at the thought, the fear that they would never return. Vandular nodded as Ichigo gently set his hand on that bone mask and sought out a single soul.

"Huh?" Vandular's body blinked as Ichigo lowered his hand and waited, his heart in his throat. What would his real sire think – "AH! What am I doing here?!" Ichigo blinked as the hollow in front of him suddenly spun around, looking over the throne room frantically. "No! My Ichigo, I… wait. I was in Hueco Mundo… I… wait, what am I?!" He was staring at his hands now, seeing the bones. He glanced over his shoulder to see the wings and Ichigo couldn't help but laugh. "AH! Who are you?!" He turned and pointed, clearly freaking out. Ichigo forced back the laughter and just smiled. The shinigami soul was clearly very confused.

"I'm Ichigo." He said simply and saw the black and gold eyes widen in shock. "You did it, father. You got me to safety… Vandular raised me with his son. It's a long story but I'm the Soul King now." He said and watched the hollow look overwhelmed. He couldn't see any facial expressions, of course, but the way he laid his wings back…

"Ichigo?" Isshin whispered and Ichigo noticed how different his voice sounded. He really didn't sound like Van at all. "My son!" Arms were suddenly around him, hugging him so tightly that Ichigo yelped.

"Ow! Papi! You're really strong!" He pleaded with the hollow who suddenly didn't know his own strength and the arms loosened. Then Isshin pulled back, hands on his shoulders as he looked into his face.

"My Ichigo. Masaki would be so proud of you." He sounded almost drunk with happiness and Ichigo smiled again. "I – I can't stay very long, can I?" Isshin glanced over his hollow body again and Ichigo shook his head.

"No. I'm sorry, but it wouldn't be fair to Van." He said softly. Vandular was giving a lot just allowing this. He wasn't going to trade one father for another. His real sire sighed softly before nodding and letting go of his shoulders. "You'll sleep, until my other papi finally passes on." That would happen eventually. Vandular was already becoming old and Ichigo had the feeling he would eventually desire to re-enter the cycle of rebirth. Not yet – he was still enjoying life – but someday, it would happen. Isshin nodded.

"I understand and I'm very grateful to him. I love you, Ichigo." He said and they hugged again, this time gently. Ichigo sniffed, feeling tears rising. He'd never imagined that meeting his real sire, the man he'd only heard about, would affect him so much. There were tears on the hollow's bone mask too.

"I love you papi." He said softly before giving Vandular back control. The hollow staggered for a moment, held up by his son's arms. Ichigo let him go and his papi reached up, brushing away a few errant tears.

"I see that was a powerful experience." He observed and Ichigo nodded, wiping his face. It definitely had been. "Do you want me to send you Grimmjow and Shiro?" He asked and Ichigo shook his head.

"No, I'll go to them." He could see them in his mind's eye. They were in the gardens, encouraging Tigre to crawl. Suisen and Bonito were there too, flying through the trees and pausing to sample the cherries. "Thank you papi." He said and Vandular waved it away.

"It was the least I could do." He said and Ichigo smiled before going through the sliding windows and entering the garden.

He wanted to spend time with his family.


End file.
